FreddyHouse Q&A

EU Server and Hosting Concerns
Ormorof said: 

I dont know if this has already been asked but:

Will CU be run by CSE worldwide or will Europe be dumped on some french company again? it seems to me at least that despite the best efforts with Warhammer, the same mistakes were made again and again - would be nice if there was some "pledge" not to do so again even if the main markets are US & Asia (i'm sure the Asian based players also would prefer not to be stuck on a secondary server group)

MJ Response:

'''There is zero chance that we will place our European customers in the hands of another company again. I did that twice, both times born out of the necessity for cash (GOA paid handsomely for the 2nd time) and I won't do that again even if someone made a great offer. I'm promising our US/European backers that we will run the servers ourselves. I haven't talked to any potential European partners and I have no intention of doing so. That's my pledge.'''

'''In terms of Asia, no decision has been made yet. If we had enough demand for a SEA-based server farm, we could do that but I'm definitely leaving open the possibility of working with an Asian partner.'''

AngelHeal said: 

Without PvE how will CSE try to fit all the lore that this scenery has in the game. Because I think (personal opinion, other players may have experienced different!) that part of the succes of Dark Age of Camelot was the lore, it was what made that game, and RvR was 'just' a tool where people could express there feelings about the lore (well atleast in the beginning of the game). In what way will CSE try to get access to the more deeper feelings / underlaying thoughts of the players, not just what players say but really how they think and feel about the game() without PvE.

Don't get me wrong, my first reaction to PvE would be *blegh please don't, RvR all the way!*, but PvE is more then just beating monsters. It's where people socialize, it is where they experience things and are able to discuss it or even try things out. It is what made players give personall value to certain objects such as keeps, territory etc) and you I'am pretty sure (i truely hope you can convince me different btw!), even without having statistics to back me up, that a major percentage of players (even the PvP lovers) need factors that PvE offers to make RvR as great as it is.

Q: Currently CSE is doing a lot of (customer service, is this something you intent to keep up when the game has launched?

Q: Is human centered design one of the principles you are using? I am really interested in what methods/tools you use to get data from your customers/players <except from forum and beta testing ofc

Q: How does CSE try to get all the 'force fields' from PvE into PvP / RvR. (sorry don't know proper English word for krachtvelden) ps. sorry for all the ( chat )

MJ Response:

'''I agree that a lot of socialization can happen during PvE as it did in games like EQ. I also know from Dark Age/WAR experience that it can happen in RvR too. What I'm hoping will happen is that the main cities will serve as the initial point of socialization and then RvR and places like The Depths will add to it. As yo your questions:'''

'''1. More actually. I've told our backers that we will have forums as soon after CU funds as possible. That's where the real fun starts and probably some forum PvP. '''

'''2. Right now the tools are talking to players. Once we really get going though we will have better metric tools than we had when we developed Dark Age (which wouldn't be hard since we had none) and hopefully at least WAR level (when they worked properly). It's important to me.'''

'''3. Do you mean shields? Please elaborate.'''

Ogrelin Blodig said:  Regarding EU-Servers: I think there are more options available for a game company who need over seas help to host servers now days? CSE won't need a partner like GOA, They will just let some company like Amazon host them like Minecraft does. I'm prepared to wait for patches ect for a couple of hours extra...but not months

MJ Response: That's the current plan.

Crafting

Raven said: 

Edit timer!, I just think you need to give a bit more information regarding how the economy would work, it's all good and well to say everything will be crafted by a crafter class but take it from a guy who had every crafter LGM before they made it easy, sitting there doing it for free generally won't happen. Without a pve source of gold or some such it would be very difficult for some people to earn enough to buy the gear. You would soon end up with quite a divide between those that have the gold and those that don't not to mention that it would become prohibitive to new starters.

With the announcement of the dungeon I came very near to chucking $50 at it, Darkness Falls was the best dungeon and PvP experience of any MMO.

And nice to see you post! We are used to having grumpy Frenchman deliver our Camelot news.

MJ Response:

'''As to more information on the economy, I totally agree with you. It's going to be more challenging for us because pure crafters can't really fight in RvR very well. They can die very well but not fight very well. Thus we will have to ensure that they can make money on their own, with or without crafting, to be viable. What I'll say for now (other than don't pledge until you hear more of course) is that:'''

1) Crafters will have access to certain money-generating resources that non-crafters won't. They will also be able to exploit these and other resources better than non-crafters.

2) Crafters will be able to make items for their realm. Not a grindfest of making 100,000s of arrows but a modest 10,000! JK. It will be much more reasonable and less boring.

3) Crafters will be able to provide services for their realm that can earn them money.

4) Crafters/Non-crafters will have other sources of income that I'll talk about in a future update. 

'''In terms of DF, that was a great innovation of course and I want to do even better this time. I think we have a great concept for it but as usual, the devil is in the details.'''

Classes

Cirventhor said: 

Hi Mark!

How do you envision the tank role in RvR? Would be nice to see a return of the original Guard mechanic from DAoC. Have you decided on a group size?

MJ Response:

'''We need to give the tank class plenty of loving in an RvR-focused game for obvious reasons. As to the Guard mechanic or anything else, that's something that we will work out over the course of the Kickstarter. That's also one of the reasons I've been cautious in the number of classes that I'm saying will be in at launch. We need to make sure that each is special, fun and with a very well-defined role. Anything else is pointless.'''

Dutch_NS said: 

Also will there be a speed class like the Mincer,bard,skald? Without a speed class the game will just be a 100vs100vs100 zerg standoff like Guild wars 2 is.

MJ Response:

'''Speed class is 99% confirmed as the 4th of 5 classes per realm at launch. The only reason it is not 100% is, well, I'm trying to not repeat mistakes of the past. '''

ileks said: 

Will each class have a mirror in one of the other realms or will they be fairly unique like in DAOC?

MJ Response:

'''No mirrors. Been there, done that. Never again for this type of game.'''

Environment

BloodOmen said: 

I have a question regarding the dragon artwork CSE released and something I read in one of the news letters:

"what if our world’s dragons were a mere reflection of what these beings are in their own reality? In addition, what if in their dimension their technology is what we call magic? Then, what if a cataclysmic event pierced the walls (Veil) and the power from that dimension flooded our world – a world with no magic, wizards, and dragons?" - Camelot Unchained News

Where do Dragons fit in if there is no PVE? what will the rewards be if there is no gear grinding/farming? will each realm have their own unique/named dragon?

p.s needs more dragon! everyone loves dragons

MJ Response:

'''And that dear BloodOmen is one of the keys to the backstory which I will talk about in an update next week. '''

I like dragons too, been wearing one around my neck for more than 20 years as a nod to my 2nd MUD, Dragon's Gate.

Gwadien said: 

Or is it your intention to creating a game focused on the 'later' players, who purely played it for the RvR, I mean, I call myself a RvR player, but I did enjoy sitting back on an alt, learning to play something different, when in my eyes this is looking like a FPS, in the sense that I come on for a bit, blast a few heads, then come off... potentially in my PoV making it a short term MMO, or do you not mind if people treat it as such?

MJ Response:

'''This game is really focused on both RvR-players and crafters at the same time. It's a weird sounding mix but I think it can work out very well. It's different but the more that I thought about where this game could go with that mix, the more excited I got.'''

PvE & Loot Drops

Gwadien said: 

I don't really expect you to answer this tbh, but...

If money wasn't a factor, would have you involved PvE into this game? - Because in many peoples eyes, the community of DAOC was a prime reason why it was so successful, and most of that community was built up over the tedious leveling that took place, and therefore you may put off quite a lot of those older and more casual players from the earlier days...

MJ Response:

'''If money, time, balance, monetization system and need for a publisher weren't issues, of course I would love to have both just as we did with Dark Age of Camelot. I would focus on RvR and let another team focus on the PvE but it doesn't work that way. I don't want to spend 5+ years making an MMORPG, I don't want to make an FTP MMO (though I don't have a problem with those that do) as I just want to make a very fun, RvR-focused game and take a ton of chances at the same time. With CU, I can take chances like The Depths and with other things we are going to announce. I'm not making this game to make a themepark, casual or mass market oriented game, I want to focus on making an outstanding RvR-focused game.'''

Advancement

BloodOmen said: 

Given the focus on crafting does that mean we'll be seeing DAOC like stat caps? or will we see a more Warhammer stat where there werent really any caps per say thus allowing crafters to always have use for their craft as opposed to someone getting like:

75/75 str

75/75 con

75/75 dex

etc, basically stopping progression dead as far as stats go?

MJ Response:

'''Right now my thinking is a soft-cap system for all stats and abilities but this is something we will continue to talk about over the next few months, let alone years. I think a soft-cap with slow progression is the best way to go but like I said, I'm not committed to this yet.'''

Dutch_NS said: 

There need to be alot of rvr rewards in order for people to keep playing like realm ranks and realm abilities. Without pve it could get boring fast. I played 10+ hours rvr from release i was the first to hit Realm Rank 10 on the Nightshade but without rewards i dont think i would even played that much and push on for that rank.

MJ Response:

'''I couldn't agree more Dutch and I'll add that the rewards have to be more than just another ability. I hate the word "holistically" but we do need to look at the entire game and see how we can get creative without rewards, drops and pats on the head. That's part of what I've been spending a lot of time thinking about in terms of progressions and frankly, fun.'''

Cazedy said: 

Hey Mark!

Nice to see you on FH

As for my question, it's about what kind of reward system you have planned for the people who do like keep taking etc but are more focused on fighting the other realms as solo, duo, smaller group and full group vs group? I know you've said that you want a horizontal progression which is cool, but trying to poke if we might see something as cool as the Realm Ranks you had in daoc? Even if you completely remove the rewards(as RA's etc).

A hard to reach(something like pre NF RRs) ranking system based on kills would be so nice to see for people who will spend loads of time doing what they love and get something to show for it.

Just quoted two other people who expressed some of what i feel as well.

I'm really excited about CU and i do have faith in what ever you have in mind, but some more feedback on the subject would be much appreciated!

MJ Response:

'''Nice to be here. As to your question, we will have a very interesting mechanic to reward people. I've been referring to some of my ideas for Camelot Unchained as being BSC (Bat Shit Crazy) because frankly, I think they are as is the idea of someone investing their own money (as opposed to using all KS funding) to make a niche sub-based MMORPG in today's FTP climate. I agree with you that you need to reward all players whose play style is not the same as other people as long as they contribute to ongoing fight. I'll be talking about this before the KS ends as it is complicated. '''

'''As to having faith, thank you. I hope that everything you see from us in the next two weeks helps justify that faith.'''

Races

Dutch_NS said: 

Dunno what i have to think about the new race mark, If the wings stay like that all the time it would be okayish but if they open up with jumping or so it will be anoying. Cant decide till it gets armor if i like it or not.

MJ Response:

'''Understood. It's truly a prototype. Under normal (not Kickstarter) conditions, those races would have only been shown in concept art form. Because of the KS however, the team pushed to get it modeled, rigged, textured and animated. I like it a lot and there actually is a bit of a backstory I'm building behind it. So far, it's coming out well but it is indeed very early.'''

Subscription Model

ileks said: 

A few questions, if they've been covered before please ignore!

Could the game be available on Steam? I feel like this could help sales/publicity at release quite a bit. I only find out about a lot of the smaller games because they pop up on Steam.

MJ Response:

'''Not likely because Valve wants a big chunk of the revenue. I respect that of course and Gabe's contribution to the industry is amazing but for now, we'll self-distribute via Torrent.'''

Combat

ileks said: 

One of the things I really dislike about PvP in new MMOs is how drawn out the fights can be. I loved that in daoc if a caster was free to cast he could kill someone in seconds. On the other hand if he was interupted/CC'd he was useless. Will CU be similar in this respect?

MJ Response:

As of now, yes.

ileks said: 

Which features from new MMOs (or anything since daoc really) have you enjoyed and will try to to include in CU?

MJ Response:

'''Some of the classes in GW2 I found quite immersive through gameplay. I want a very fluid, smooth combat system. As to other systems, well, I'm curious as to what you will think about our housing/building update. In truth, CU intends to do without a lot of the modern systems that Dark Age/WoW/WAR/etc. added to MMOs. No AH, no GPS maps, no question marks above NPC's heads, etc.'''

Housing

BloodOmen said: 

I understand alot more will be explained when the housing info/update is released but could you give us a very brief/rough idea about the level of customization we'll have? like in DAOC we could buy a plot -> house -> plop house down and fill it with trophies, that was more or less its only real purpose apart from a little extra vault space and being able to sell items through a personal consignment merchant  can you give us even 1 set in stone example of CU's housing that will blow us away? (atleast those of us that like that sorta thing as a time sink)

MJ Response:

The housing update will be Friday or Saturday but since you asked, all I will say is that you will be pleasantly surprised (I hope).

User Interface (UI)

Everz said: 

Does this all mean I'll be printed off maps for each area and learning the locs for dungeons?

I can pretty much recall every area of classic DAoC by loc and memory because the hours I'd spent using maps.

MJ Response:

'''Nice. We certainly won't have a GPS system in CU. Doesn't fit the game.'''