Thought you all might be interested.
Originally posted here. (I copied text here in case anyone had difficulty connecting to the original site.)
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During the last 2 and a half hours of Guild Wars, while everyone was having a beach party down in District 28, I (Cinther Chiaus) was in District 81 having an interview with Jeff Strain and Cynn of Ascalon - Two very nice Developers of Guild wars. I, aswell as a bunch of others, had a chance to bomberd them with questions. I took screenshots (300 of them) of all the questions and answers and have spent most of my time since the end of WPE typing them out and getting rid of the spam for all to see. Soo without further ado, here it is, all two and a half hours worth. (I know its long)
"Q" is someone asking a question and "A" is either Jeff or Cynn answering it:
Q: I got the pre-order, what does it really get me?
A: It gets you into every Beta Weekend Event, first weekend of every month until ship, starting next weekend.
Q: Are you responsible for all this?
A: No, no – there is a huge team of 80 very talented people responsible for this – I am but one part.
Q: Is this game going to have more depth to it?
A: This is still Alpha – its all content from here
Q: What more can we expect to see on release of this game?
A: More missions, more quests, more monsters, more features (e.g. observer mode, guild ladder)
Q: Like more types of weapons and armor appearances too?
A: Actually lots more – like I said, it’s all content from here.
Q: Why can’t I create a guild?
A: You can create a guild – see the guild vendor in town.
Q: Can people who didn’t pre-order still get in on the beta weekends?
A: No, they can’t play – people who preorder get the goodies
Q: Will the characters, loot, and missions I have done stay during the Beta Weekends as l as long as I have the pre-order and will the logins stay the same?
A: We have not decided yet – we will post the info on our site soon
Q: Any mass emails going around too? It might be easier that way.
A: No email – we have a –very- strict policy about unsolicited email – never from us, for any reason
Q: I thought when we signed up for our account and we gave you our email that was for emailing us info.
A: Ick – no.
Q: Could you put an anti spam filter to prevent people from super spamming our chat window?
A: That’s coming soon – believe me
Q: For the spells like “rotting flesh” that have a description, but no real school (like death magic, etc) what determines their effectiveness?
A: Right now rotting flesh is “fixed” effectiveness, but will eventually have a school.
Q: Any plan to remove the “invisible walls” on the areas? That has been a great concern for new people.
A: We have received a lot of feedback about pathing and “walls” – on the to-do list for sure.
Q: Will there be more types of weapons in the final, like maces, spears, lances, etc?
A: Tons More
Q: I can’t buy skills, is that because I have too many?
A: Yes, you are given “Skill points” which are used every time that you buy a skill. You can get more skill points by completing quests, leveling, and doing bonus missions. But there is a cap so choose them carefully.
Q: So then it isn’t possible to get all the skills?
A: Theoretically you can, once you run our of skill points you will have to use class specific rings to learn the rest of the skills, however we encourage specialization, not “Jacks of all trades”
Q: What was your part in the game? (Programming, designer, etc?
A: I have been programming for three years, now I am a producer and the “interview guy”.
Q: Will there be a printed map included with the retail box?
A: Of course there will be a map, plus much more in the box.
Q: Are there any plans on including unarmed combat (for monks please?) or dual wielding?
A: Unarmed combat - Probably not in the release but a strong possibility for the first expansion. Remember, each expansion will have content on scale with first release.
Q: Will I get to keep my Character?
A: We are still deciding on what to do about retaining characters and Guilds – will announce soon.
Q: What about guilds? Will they still be registered?
A: Cant say for sure – we will make an announcement about it soon.
Q: Jeff could you elaborate on “Chapters”?
A: Chapters are the expansions, every chapter has new professions, skills, missions, quests, towns, explorable areas, monsters, etc.
Q: Are chapters downloadable or expansions have to be bought?
A: Either – We will stream it to you automatically so you can purchase directly, or you can go to the store and buy it.
Q: Will the drop rate issues for cloth bolt and hide salvaging be brought into balance with that of the other classes?
A: Drop rates, loot, crafting etc. will all get major rebalancing after WPE
Q: What will the chapters cost?
A: No pricing Details yet.
(After Multiple Flamings about “clogging up the chat window with questions”)
A: Yes, about those chat filters – Coming very soon. Smile
Q: Will guilds be able to house things? Like equipment that you can’t carry because of space limitations?
A: Guild storage is coming soon.
Q: Any plans to implement some sort of a “dueling arena”? For 1v1 PvP challenges?
A: Its Under construction – Much requested.
Q: Will Character naming be reviewed? I saw a guy named SodaCan McPepsi earlier.
A: SodaCan McPepsi will not be filtered – we don’t want to be police – if its offensive, yes, but if it is just out of character, no.
Q: Any chance of dungeon delving adventures?
A: Full indoor environments will be a major part of an upcoming chapter – first release will be outdoors.
Q: Will there be more control over pets because my pet just runs in and gets itself killed.
A: Yes you will have more control over pats, and henchmen too.
Q: Will there be any statistic views, i.e. player death totals, etc?
A: Yes, for sure, many stats coming soon.
Q: I’ve noticed that in PvP, and PvE, my charmed pet would die and I would suffer Death Penalty for that. Any Plans for this?
A: Yes, we will probably just get rid of that.
Q: Will you be doing something about all this sell-spamming everywhere? Maybe a district for selling only and then extreme flood protection on all non-trade channels.
A: Yes, we will do something about it – our goal is that each public area is very task specific.
Q: Any plans on adding other classes maybe in additional chapters?
A: You bet – every chapter will have new professions
Q: I’ve noticed that there are multiple pets available to be charmed at the moment (Moa Bird and Lynx) but no ability to uncharm.
A: This was a bug in WPE and is being fixed. There might be a trader, like the dye trader or the item crafter, who could take your pet from you
Q: The downloadable chapters, what format will they be in? If I had to redo my system I’d hate to lose it.
A: It doesn’t matter what’s on your system, just how your account is flagged, once you own it, you own it, so you would be able to reinstall it if you need to.
Q: SO you would be able to play your account with your chapters on anyone’s computer that has it?
A: Yes!
Q: Will Ranger pet buffs be made less of a burden in later patches? Right now they take up the whole skill bar.
A: No answer for you, but the design team does actively review forums, so please post it there.
Q: How many accounts can someone make with 1 CD key?
A: Once account, four Characters.
Q: What about beta testers from around the world, can we pre order?
A: We have just solved Europe via magazine distribution, but Australia and new Zealand are still in the works. We WILL find a way to get it to you, but I have nothing definitive right now.
Q: Will all my characters be forced to belong to the same guild? Because my brothers also use my PC.
A: Number of players per PC does not matter – each player needs an accound, and guild membership is account based.
Q: What will be done about necro pets? They seem kinda useless right now with their constant health degeneration.
Player: No they aren’t. Ever seen 20 necro pets swarm Justicar Hablion? It’s a massacre. Sure necro pets suck by themselves but when you get 10 they are amazing, plus blood of the master heals ALL of them up to 60hp so that’s 600hp you are healing if you just have 10 pets.
A: That is not a universal opinion so I don’t have an answer for you right now.
Q: What will be the max level in full retail?
A: Max level is 20, by very specific design.
Q: Will there be a character wipe or can we keep our characters though to release?
A: There will most likely be a character wipe but you will probably be able to preserve your characters (Name and Appearance) You will start at level 1 in retail, and probably as soon as the first beta weekend event.
Q: Has the dev team utilized the clients bandwidth to transfer the world data in addition to the game server’s trans?
A: No, this is nothing like Bittorrent – we have plenty of Horsepower (now)
Q: I read that with the streaming technology the server would never have to go down, yet it went down the first night.
A: We needed to bring on some extra capacity the first night – the usage was…extreme.
Q: Was it a joke to put a scary looking shark in the water that can’t attack you?
A: No, its just ambient life Smile
Q: Will there be day/night cycles in retail?
A: Day/night stormy/sunny can all cycle in a mission, but there will be no fixed day/night cycle. A night mission will be a night mission regardless of the real time.
Q: As of now, the ‘stealth’ element in the game is small, if existent at all…any plans?
A: I think there are plans to enhance stealth element.
Q: Will there be 1v1 duels? The could be handy to settle grudges or what not.
A: We are talking about an option that would et you practice against other guild members in your guild hall.
Q: When is this slated for retain?
A: Early next year, we have quite a bit of balancing tasks ahead of us.
Q: Will all the assets of the final game be in CDs, or will they have to be streamed (56K question)
A: CDs will have most of the early content, but advanced content may stream
Q: Are there plans to balance warriors heal? They shouldn’t be able to heal so often like they can right now.
A: There is going to be major rebalancing based on WPE feedback – trust me
Q: Will there be character voices?
A: The problem with voices is that they have to stream and they are large – we want to change the content constantly to reflect things that happen in the world – guild victories etc – and having npc dialog change to reflect that aswell. Using voice acting burns it forever statically, since the files would be too large to download every time they change. I know a lot of people want voice so we are looking for a middle ground.
Q: Perhaps voices like Help! or Charge! Might be added? (Like Shortcut keys)
A: Stuff like that is more likely than full dialog
Q: Will there be more than 8 people from the same guild in GvG?
A: No, only 8 people on a team at a time but you will be able to have more than one team.
Q: You said that you will be changing the content regularly, can you give me an example of what would constantly change?
A: The hunting grounds will have events that will change on a regular basis. Our intent is to create a living breathing world where new things happen all the time.
Server: And Now for a public service announcement
Q: Here it comes…
Server: The preview event is now over
Server: But wait, you say, isn’t it only 11 pm in Seattle?
Server: Well lucky you; daylight savings time started today, so the World Preview Event runs for another hour…
Q: Are there any employment opportunities for ArenaNet?
A: Not at this time – we are fully staffed – check our company site (
www.arena.net) for tips on how to break into the biz.
Q: Are those of us that are beta testers at least going to keep our characters?
A: Probably but expect a wipe at some point since the beta weekend events start at level 1
Q: What ever happened to the Charr aspect of the game? Did they get canned?
A: No, the Charr will be back (in force) next weekend (Nov. 6th)
Q: Do Charr taste like chicken?
A: Yes, they do.
Q: Do you prefer chicken or beef?
A: Bundaegi *(I am not sure what this means)
Q: I explored every inch on the map with a guildmate and ran across some lvl 30 nps, they were too easy. Anything being done about that?
A: We’re still working on large parts of tha balance, don’t worry, next time you see a level 30. he’ll have you for lunch
Q: If you were a tree what kind would you be?
A: A money tree of course
Q: What is the guild Cap if there is one?
A: The Guild cap is 50 members as of now.
Q: Any chance of raising the Cap?
A: We are still working on the final numbers for the guilds. We don’t want huge guilds – we want everyone to know each other – having said that the number is always tunable. We will evaluate the WPE feedback, so make sure to post your thoughts on it.
Q: That is true but considering not everyone in the guild will be online at the same time, it can make it hard sometimes to play GvG.
A: We will take those sorts of things into consideration when tuning the GvG
Q: Can you shoot lasers from your eyes?
A: My kids think so, yes.
(After some guy asked if there were any other guys out there that would like to...well…you know…)
A: /squelch…no, um, /ignore…no, hmmm, /filter.../don’t listen…
Q: I noticed that you can only mix three dyes. Is that going to continue being a max for custom colors?
A: No! Certainly not – I don’t know why it prevented you from mixing further
Q: Will there be secret areas?
A: There will be secret areas in almost every map, stuff that will take you some time to find and discover. There will also be maps that unlock based on how well your “world” is doing in the international tournament.
Q: Will there be an arena where teams are arranged but on the same map every time?
A: That was the intent behind GvG and the guild hall.
Q: Will the map have names of regions after you explore them? Like the village in North Kryta?
A: Yes, it will
Q: Is there some way of determining what district we land in when traveling?
A: No, but we will try to place friends and guild mates in the same district automatically.
Q: Will the GvG offer 4v4 such as arena?
A: 4v4 guild combat is something we haven’t talked much about. Could happen
Q: Will we ever have to worry about weekly server maintenance or will there be “server transfers”?
A: No, our plan is for zero downtime – the server infrastructure is built for hot swapping of system components. For instance, our server can run multiple copies of the game simultaneously.
Q: I found an item, enchanted stone, and tried to salvage it but it wouldn’t…are those not implemented yet?
A: Some item drops aren’t salvageable; they are just raw material like that stone. Salvage armor you can use to get the raw materials out of using a salvaging kit then craft new items using those materials.
Q: Are the weekend events going to start a day earlier like with the WPE?
A: The question is, would I tell you if I knew? Wink But in all seriousness, probably not.
Q: Have you started any work on the next expansion?
A: Nope, still a lot of work to do on this puppy.
Q: Do you have anything you personally are really excited about adding in the furure?
A: yeah, observer mode.
Q: Can you make everyone naked?
A: No, as much as I have tried throughout my life…
Server: Thanks for playing, we really appreciate your participation and hope you hade a great time.
A: Well, we had a good event, but it’s not perfect…yet. But we will throw every once of our energy, passion, and talent into. This weekend was honestly the most fun I have had on guild wars.
/kick all
WPE over
Author
