(Etaren) Can we make cake/cookie/marzipan shops in DE, with some Baking skill or something? ;) as delicious as marzipan is, you'll have to have that in RL I hate marzipan. Gimme nougat. Or fudge no marzipan shops I'm afraid (SDA_Wyrmslayer) Well, have to ask....what's the status of beta1? Are we still just saying 'winter' or is there a more definate time in mind? Will invites be sent out before 2004? Well, we're doing some testing on some new code right now And from that we will be doing some stress testing. but when that happens is entirely up to the QA department who are passing us through the tests. They are a mean bunch ;) After the stress stuff is done (and that's done by getting a lot of players in to test the code) we will move to beta1. Now, I can't offer any dates as we simply don't know how well the code wil stand up to testing. Could be perfect first go, could need tweaking. (Jack) When will we finally get to see a new dragon? I thought that Fin (dragon from greenwater empire) was more or less finished by now? Well today I saw the marketing artists (artists who specialise in renders and stuff) working on some new renders of dragons The fish dragon is being animated so I hope to be able to release some shots of him before christmas (Etaren) What about ordinary cookies and/or cakes? Looks like someone is a bit hungry * Wolfgang wants to bake some cookies now =( Etaren ... snack items and other foods do not play an important role in the game so there is no baking skill players will have a wide variety of items they can make though this includes, weapons, armour, clothing, ammunition, magical reagents as finished goods plus there are a number of intermediary good players can make also part-items yeah that's the one precursors is another name for them for the most part, everything a player can make will have a use although we might hide a cuple of just for fun things in the game (Jack) How's progress on the dynamic questing system going? (papa smurf enjoying himself? It's going well. The system is really flexible and so it's kinda scary to us non-coders. I'm told they're working on some tools for us tho ;) We should be able to have all the quest type activity you are used to in a single player RPG as well as type-in boxes and so on. We're excited about the kind of stories we can tell with it :) (Exca_) in the latest diary there is a screenshot of a monkey town. How big town is it? medium? small? huge? It's really big! Some towns are just a handfull of buildings the capital must be 30+ buildings. the Yellowback (monkey) empire is very low down and in the dirt.. almost looks like a nomad camp with the tents and so on, pretty fun. The Empire of the Lady is really different, going to be fun to show you all! Huge pillars about 100+m tall have buildings on top with some slums around the base :) a huge pillar i mean :) will a prime spec hunter be able to solo up to level 10. As it has been stated that you only get 1 primary skill to start with. AS in other games an archer is only able to pull with the bow, and then finish off the mob with a weapon. How does DE confront this issue That's essentially right, players do start with one primary skill. Each skill should be effective enough to solo ... we're also looking at players having a modicum on one hand weapon skill but in the example of the bow skill, the player will probably have to be very careful when he solos ([PoVal]Forever) Can you tell us a bit more about the portals? Like how many will there be around the world? How can you use it? Will it always be city to city? portals are not just city to city they are spread throughout the world they generally offer players quicker access to the various point of activity in the world (Khellen) Is Dragon Empires being balanced from the top down, or from the bottom up? In other words, are you balancing the game with the end-game in mind first, then letting the results dictate the lower levels? hehehe :D just like a TV, good thwack to the side and it goes again! Good question. We have started looking at the end game first. We definately want to make sure that we are happy with the play at the end. That being said, we have also selected key points along a character's progression to ensure that we are happy with the play in those areas too So, we are looking at the beginning, the middle and the end If you only had the choise of picking three of the features in DE when promoting the game, what features would those have been? Well I'd say a huge and great looking world. It really is something special, especially when you see it moving. Also, great player-driven combat and battles for cities and their control. That's some pretty fun stuff.. and I'd have to stick in that the combat systems should really invovle and interest people too And finally, player driven economy and crafting.. markets in each city interact with other markets and prices are entirely based on what the market will bear. It's a pretty clever system :) three cool things in a very short summary! ([Poval]Pieter) Q: Why would I want to pick a character with a normal Bow skill when I could go with the Enchanted Bow and know I have long range+magic instead of just long range? There's always tradeoffs, so one skill is not necesarily better than the other. The bow skill will have better range and generally do better damage. The cost of the ammunition will likely favor the bow skill too. The enchanted bow skill offeres some nice advatages too though ... like the ability to damage characters within an area it should really come down to your preference of play style Will Dragonempire be roleplay based? ie. An interactive world where a person can get swept away with the characters lives? Drink in a tavern, sit in a chair, emote emotions ect...? We will have a lot of stuff to help with roleplay. Good selection of clothes players can make or buy, items like wedding cakes and pressies for those so inclined and a good number of social emotes we'd like people to be able to amuse themselves when they're not out hunting and so on :) how will swimming in DE work? will we be able to swim indefinately or will we have certain amounts of stamina? Also, will we be able to jump and dive into the water and see the avatar do different types of dives depending on if they were going in forwards or backwrds? You won't be able to swim indefinately. You can swim to the bounds of your stanima, which is a good distance :) ..but not infinite hehe Swimming takes a toll on your character ... the longer you are in the water, the more it saps your energy and potentially your health too. You can drown. But if you pay attention and don't swim off in search of the unknown, you should be fine. ([PoVal]KRaPuuL) Q: will there be guild invites :) mmm Eventually we will top up guilds that are playing and are short on numbers. We feel singlging out guilds is just ridden with problems! (And I'm still bitter the guild I was in didn't get an invite in a previous game :D ) so what we'll do is when we get to about Beta3 we will ask guilds who are in beta3 (which will be a LOT, as it will be a big test) to tell us how many nhollister@datamonitor.com baaaaahh can't see in the dark. Anyway, we will check to see how many are in each group and send a few invites to those that need more members to test guild functions well. we think this is a bit more 'fair' (Jack) what other tactical PvP decisions can we expect except for choosing & switching to right weapons/armour at the right time? There's a number of consideration you may make Depending on the terrain, you may want to equip with something that gives you an advantage from height. If you know you foes weakness, you can chose equip that specializes in areas they have the worst defense in. You may want to consider your levels of ammunition andor magical reagents you may want to pick weapons based on their efficiency and the anticiapte longevity of the impending fight. a lot is going to depend tho, who you are fighting alongside, and what they bring with them. (Dutchy) is there a spoon in DE or is it kinda a matrix game? * Calistas spout some pseudo-philosophical rubbish * Calistas spout some pseudo-philosophical rubbish * Calistas spout some pseudo-philosophical rubbish * Calistas spout some pseudo-philosophical rubbish no :) After -m: Will DE support dance mat (or dancing at all) or do I have to buy pop idol? you must all buy pop idol / american idol If one has more than one character in one server, is it possible for the characters to switch items or to assist themselfs? or is it strictly forbidden to log in with 2 characters under one account? can't log in with two characters on one account