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<Brannoc> Welcome to another great Stratics house of commons chat with the developers of Everquest! Tonight we'll be focusing on Depths of Darkhollow and Live Events so try to focus your questions around this please.

<Brannoc> Please send those questions to [QT]Shoes - to do so type /msg [QT]Shoes My question here. Please only send questions to our QT's as those sent to myself or the developers will not make it into the lineup.

<Brannoc> The full logs will be posted on http://eq.stratics.com after the chat. We'll begin with a quick intro from our guests...now would be a good time to send in those questions!

<AbsorEQ> Hello. I'm Alan VanCouvering, the game designer formerly known as Absor. Thanks for showing up today.

<Rashere> Evening all. I'm Travis McGeathy, the lead designer for EverQuest.

<Maddoc> I'm Jason Mash, Assistant Lead Designer on the EverQuest Team.

<Kytherea> Hi there, I am Christina Delzer, AKA Kytherea the Customer Relations Manager for EverQuest.

<Zorillius> Hello, I'm Craig Knapp and I'm the Producer of EverQuest.

<Brannoc> *Wolfgard* will ER(endureance regen) be plaed upon items

<Rashere> We are still working on the itemization for the expansion. At the moment, we aren't planning to add endurance regen to items, but we are still evaluating it and that might change.

<Brannoc> *ElfGuy* what amount of post anguish content will DoD have? considering that just my server, nameless, has 4 anguish guild already

<Rashere> There's a significant number of raids aimed at players who have tackled Anguish already. While the actual numbers aren't public information yet, I think you'll be pleased when you see what we have in store.

<Brannoc> *Drakah* We have EQ2players.com for EQ2 people, is there any news on when (if) we will get the EQPlayers for EQ1?

<Zorillius> The EQ2players service is something we've been interested in providing for EQ players for a long time. We're not ready to make any commitments, but it is something we're looking into.

<Brannoc> *sdgkh* what kind of rewards can we expect from time invested during any of the mosnter morphing

<Rashere> There are two distinct forms of playing as a monster. Spirit Shrouds will allow you to play through any zone in EQ that you would normally have access to and any experience or items you pick up will be able to transfer back to your main character.

<Rashere> Monster missions are much more focused and have you playing as a monster through a very specific mission, for instance reliving a piece of Norrathian history from the eyes of the people who were there at the time.

<Rashere> While on those missions, you will also be able to earn rewards that transfer back to your main character including items and experience.

<Brannoc> *Tenolin* Tell us about these live events. Who are all these armies that are posted in various zones. What is the story line for this?

<AbsorEQ> That's a long story to tell. The short version is that Trolls make for rather unpleasant room mates and the Dark Elves thought it would be good to motivate them to move out. There were a rather large number of side-plots that I hope people saw, but in the end the Trolls have regained their home.

<AbsorEQ> If you check out the EQLive site you'll see some very good write-ups. Also, check out the in-game newspapers for more information.

<Brannoc> *Loral* In Dragons of Norrath, SOE added a new point-based loot system (crystals). Will there be any similar reward system in Depths? Will there be a different reward system than standard drops?

<Rashere> We aren't using a point based system for Depths of Darkhollow. Instead, we're focusing on making the missions more like traditional quests so there are rewards based on the mission you are doing.

<Rashere> It will work slightly differently than what you are used to, though, as you will get a reward the first time you complete a mission in addition to the normal drops within the zone.

<Brannoc> *Wolfgard* Will there be quest to add the INT items to existing epics?

<Maddoc> There's no current plan to convert existing items into "intelligent" items. The items that have this new ability will be found in the Depths of Darkhollow.

<Brannoc> *Loral* What level and equipment ranges will the zones in Depths of Darkhollow focus on?

<Rashere> The actual Depths of Darkhollow zones start at around level 45 and work their way up from there. Because of the way monster missions work, though, your level is pretty irrelevant to do them. We've created several monster missions that take place in old world zones and are available to players of any level.

<Brannoc> Remember to send your questions to [QT]Shoes by typing /msg [QT]Shoes My Question here! Questions will be answered in the order they are recieved so send now!

<Brannoc> *Wolfgard* Will the int items, on weapons, have a distinct personallity IE be a coward that not want to shed blood or refuse to attack a certain type of mob?

<Maddoc> "Intelligent" items will have a lot of personality, many of which may vary. They might be cowardly or heroic, persuasive of mocking, though they won't directly refuse to attack specific types of NPC's.

<Brannoc> *QuinnotetiquanBrell* Will we be able to assume certain monster classes like healer or tank type when using Spirit Shrouds?

<AbsorEQ> If I have my way, many of them will mock Maddoc.

<Rashere> Spirit Shrouds take on many different forms, including the classes you mention. Each Shroud will have a variety of abilities and tend to be much more focused than a player of that actual class.

<Brannoc> *Dima* How will "Smart Items" be attained, and "level/experience" up?

<Maddoc> "Intelligent" items can be obtained through the standard means, such as Tradeskills, Quests, and killing NPC's. "Intelligent" items will level up through killing NPC's.

<Brannoc> *Jetfire* Is there a chance we'll ever see sitting Mana/Endurance regens increasing over time like HP does?

<Rashere> We've been seeing a lot of concern lately about the amount of time it can take to regen to full from nothing at the top end of the game. While we don't have a solution at the moment, we are looking into ways to make it take less time without being unbalancing while in a combat situation.

<Brannoc> *ElfGuy* any news on what if anything going to happen with OMM? ie. number of masks, if he can gaze people out of agro?

<Rashere> We're making a change to OMM so he will no longer gaze on people out of aggro. The mask number will stay the same, at least for now. We may decide to increase it based on what happens after the aggro change, but don't want to make too many changes at once.

<Brannoc> *Loral* Will a mix of level-ranged players be all able to do a single monster mission together? Can a level 70, level 56, level 40, and level 25 all group together for a monster mission?

<Rashere> They sure can. The rewards they receive will scale based on their main character's level.

<Brannoc> *MistyqueXegony* will there be any cities to explore or just a bunch of exp zones like the last couple expansions?

<Rashere> While there aren't any full city zones, there are a few city areas in the new zones. Some of the NPCs will start off liking you while you'll have to earn the trust of others before you can use their city.

<Brannoc> *Mekaros* Will there be new cultural armor and or weapon recipies with this expansion?

<Maddoc> Right now, we have four sets of the base cultural armor (20, 40, 60, and 70), which covers a pretty good range of players as it is. I don't have any plans to introduce any more base cultural armor, unless a level-cap increase were to occur.

<Maddoc> There is a lot of room to grow on that armor, specifically relating to the type-12 augments, which you may see some new variations of in the near future. :)

<Brannoc> *Loral* With this expansion do you plan to stop hating the poor working-class proletariat who struggles every day for a simple cloth cap?

<Zorillius> Yes, and I'm really glad you brought that up. We've been working with Absor on this and instead of being full of hate, he's just plain grumpy now.

<Brannoc> *Rivendark* Will there be any new Races or mounts introduced with the new Expansion?

<Zorillius> There are no plans to introduce a new race, but we will be releasing a clockwork boar as a mount. The mount is available via retail purchase only.

<Brannoc> *NarazumonoFV* Regarding the storyline leading up to Depths of Darkhollow, if the trolls do indeed retake their home where will the poor Guktans go? Halas seems a little cold. :)

<AbsorEQ> The Frogloks will have a new place to live. It will be less, um, stony than Gukta, but it probably won't be lavish. Honestly, if you've seen Grobb you'd have to wonder why anyone would purposefully live there. :) Oh, as a side note, those events were not meant to lead up to the expansion, it was unrelated.

<Brannoc> *Jetfire* Will the instances be completely isolated, or will they be an instanced version of an existing static zone (like DoN was)

<Rashere> It's a mix of both. Some missions take place in instanced versions of the base zone while others take place in their own special zones.

<Brannoc> *Ladwenae_AB* Is it possible to gain xp to a intelligent item that isnt worn?, like an item that isnt an upgrade before it increases in power?

<Maddoc> "Intelligent" items must be equipped to be able to gain experience.

<Brannoc> *Loral* Recently players have been doing Creator over and over to earn crystals - are there plans to rebalance crystals across missions so other missions become more attractive?

<Rashere> I'll likely be taking another run through the point rewards for DoN missions and adjusting them based on how long they are actually taking to do. We've done it a few times before and I think its time to do so again.

<Brannoc> *jaskr* will we be able to unlock more potion belt and/or bandolier slots in DoD?

<Rashere> It's possible that there might be AAs that will allow you to unlock more slots. I'm still working on the list, though, so can't promise anything. :)

<Brannoc> *Jetfire* Is there going to be a quest with progressive rewards as you go through DoDH? (Like the PoP Figurine, Adventurers stone, BiC)?

<Rashere> One of the things we tried to do with DoD is create progressive missions. So, there are actually several different progression lines that you can do to get various rewards.

<Brannoc> *xango* can you give an example of what Intelligent items will do?

<Rashere> I don't want to give an example of a true item since I'd rather they be a surprise, but you can expect items that cheer you on when you get a kill, items that berate you when you let a party member die, and items that cry out to your friends to take it away from you when you die because you're not worthy of wielding it.

<Rashere> Intelligent items can react to a large variety of circumstances and they will each have their own personality. Some will be helpful, some plain rude.

<Brannoc> This could be your last chance for a month to get those questions in, so be sure to get in line now to get your question asked by using /msg [QT]Shoes My Question!

<Brannoc> *Morghanna* Will there be any linking of storylines between the newer expansions and the history of the old world zones? The lore has been getting rather sparse and chopped up lately with nothing to tie, say LDoN with the history of the world, for example.

<AbsorEQ> LDoN is an example of an expansion that took little bits of EQ lore and expanded on them. The Rujarkian Hills were on maps, but nobody could get there. You saw one of Miragul's lairs... things like that.

<AbsorEQ> With Gates and Omens we showed explored the lore of other planes outside of the ones Norrathians know. Dragons went back into the history of Norrath and opened up another place that was on the map but never seen, the Nest.

<AbsorEQ> And we're still in the Age of War, which sort of encompasses a lot of things. Not all expansions will link to each other directly, but they all tie into Norrath and the lore that's always been there.

<Rashere> Depths of Darkhollow is really exploring an area of Norrath that has been around for ages and has affected the surface in more ways than you think. You'll come across some lore points which will tie directly into things you've seen in the past.

<Rashere> Also, because of the way monster missions work, we are really able to let players live through lore that we had to just tell them through stories and books in the past. I think the lore for this expansion is some of the deepest and most compelling we've done to date.

<Brannoc> *Ualdayan* Will the AAs be a small number unlocked by the actions you take (similar to DON), or like OOW where it will have a tab with many class specific AAs?

<Rashere> Right now, the plan is to have a DoD tab with a selection of AAs. There may be othe hidden AAs like we've done in the past, but the majority of AAs will come in a more traditional manner.

<Brannoc> *Jetfire* Now that single charge potions can be stacked, will you be setting older potions to be stackable? (Like say Cloudy's). If not, would you consider vender-sold cast-time'd stackable versions of Cloudy's?

<Maddoc> That's something that we'd like to do, and we'll have to make sure that it's not going to cause any problems before we push something like that live.

<Brannoc> Ok folks, that does it for this time. Be sure to join us again next month for another great chat. If your question didn't get in be sure to ask sooner next time! The full logs will be on http://eq.stratics.com shortly. And remember, for your live EQ chat purposes be sure to use #Everquest on the Stratics IRC servers!

<Kytherea> Thanks for coming everyone!

<Rashere> Thanks for coming everyone and have a great evening.

<Zorillius> Thanks for coming everybody! See you on Norrath!