Developers Answer Players Questions (Part VII)

toastngravy

They just put up their newest Q&A style post. Found it interesting enough to post here.

http://sf.my.com/us/news/announcements/skyforge-developers-answer-your-questions-part-vii

Copied below for convenience:

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Welcome back to the latest round of questions posed by the Skyforge community to the development team! This time, we’ve got answers to questions dealing with character creation, player to player trading, class progression, stats and other general topics! Be sure to check out our previous Q&A’s to learn even more about Skyforge! Have a question of your own? Feel free to post them as a response to this topic on our official forums here.

 

Is it possible to create a unique character in Skyforge? Or there is going to be a crowd of clones?

Yes, it is possible to create a unique character in Skyforge! You’ll be able to customize your character’s appearance using a variety of several slider options spread across and appearance presets. You can expect to see and try more of Skyforge’s customization options during our upcoming CBT events.

 

Will there be any additional weapons for classes besides the announced ones? Crystal for the Cryomancer, sword for the Paladin, Chainsword for the Berserker. Perhaps maces, axes, daggers, crossbows, staffs, books, hammers?

Every class is tied to a specific type of weapon, but they do not all have to look the same. Characters will not be running around with the same cryogenerators, swords, etc. as they find or upgrade their weapons and continue developing their characters. But the Cryomancer will still use a cryogenerator, they won't be able to equip, for example, a staff. However, staffs will actually be used by another class we have yet to reveal. The same goes for many of the weapons you’ve listed.

 

As I understand it, the game only has the third person view. Do you have any plans to implement the features that can be accessed via Oculus Rift and other similar technology?

At the moment, there are no such plans, but it is possible in the future, if there is high enough demand from our community. We feel the third person view is better suited for Skyforge’s combat system. First-person perspective doesn’t allow the player see the power and beauty of their own combat actions, movement and animations. It would not be much of a problem to support Oculus Rift - it primarily just comes down to moving the camera. However, our current tests show that isometric and side-view perspectives, where players can see their characters, the environment, and the creatures around them, are enjoyed far more than a first person perspective. Players are able to see and enjoy their character’s look and animations and are also able to maintain a high degree of tactical or situational awareness. In a game like ours where players are moving around a lot, and mobs can respawn behind a player, a limited field of view can sometimes be a bad thing.

 

Would it be possible to change the key bindings that activate abilities from the LMB and RMB buttons to any other, such as 1, 2, 3, Q, W, E, and so on?

Yes, you can customize your key bindings in whatever way you’d like.

 

Will the classes have Strength, Luck, Defense, etc.? If classes have stats, what are they and how can they be increased?

Might, Strength, Stamina, Valor, Luck, and Spirit – these stats affect various aspects of your damage output and maximum health. Additionally, there are four extra stats that also influence the amount of damage you deal to enemies including your character’s minimum damage, critical damage, bonus damage and impulse damage, as well as 28 secondary stats. Impulse damage is somewhat unique in that, it’s based on a special meter which charges during combat and once full, triggers on the next attack – increasing the damage of that specific attack significantly.

 

To increase them, you need to develop your order by gaining new followers, find & improve your equipment and progress your character in the Ascension Atlas.

 

Why can't the character swim?

Short Answer: We didn't feel like we could do it well enough to satisfy players or our own expectations.
Longer answer: Creating great content for water areas is like developing an entirely new game, as it's a huge number of different actions, objects, events, animations, mechanics, art and locations.
We did not want to under deliver on gameplay in water areas which, instead of satisfying a seemingly easy development problem, would only create a thousand more problems and frustrations for players.
Why swim if you can't do anything else?
After a minute of swimming there will be new questions:
• Why can't I dive?
• Why don't I need air?
• Why can't I swim to…
• Why can't I attack monsters while swimming?
• Why are the monsters not visible in the water?
• Why don't I just sink to the bottom in my 40-pound armor? How can I even swim and fight like this?!

In most games, combat occurs when the character is on firm ground and has plenty of visual references that allow them to adequately determine the distance to a target.

In water, the situation becomes more complicated as the mob may appear to be standing directly in front of you, easily in range of your attacks, but because it's actually on the bottom of the ocean, the distance is quite different. The player then becomes frustrated when they can't attack, or worse when they’re unexpectedly attacked by monster from a strange angle they did not expect.

In short, you can't create water gameplay by just snapping your fingers. To bring such content to a certain level of polish, you need to spend a lot of time and effort developing these features properly.

Therefore, we chose to limit movement in water instead of introducing new gameplay conventions and complexities, which arise, if not enough time and energy is devoted to implementation. At this stage of development, we’ve chosen to limit movement in the water and instead, focus on developing the game’s land content, solving problems, making improvements to existing features, and further refine the gameplay on this front.

When the character becomes a god and gains a lot of followers, can he fight together with his adepts, or will there be special quests for him? Or maybe he will just observe?

Your followers are NPCs. They have their own missions and do not fight or participate directly in adventures alongside you.

 

Is there a concept of "Shield Block" in the game? If so, it is active or is based on chance?

We have a lot of different classes, and not all of them have access to a shield”. Some classes are unable to mitigate damage, so they channel all their energy into inflicting it – the Berserker, for example. Some support classes can protect, surround with shields, not just themselves, but also their allies. Other classes will feature abilities which allow them to actively block or mitigate the damage from an incoming attack when used.

 

Since the game will not have healer classes, will there be a class that is able to resurrect other players, so they do not have to waste time running back from a spawn point?

Yes. Although we have no specific healer-only class many healer-like abilities can be found on our support classes. The Lightbinder, for example, is able to resurrect other characters among other buffs they can provide

 

It was mentioned that each character that becomes a god gets a statue in the Hall of Greatness. But there will be at least several hundred players. Can all the statues fit into five halls? How is it going to look visually?

You will not be able to see the statues of every player in the world with you – we will only display the statues of those who are your closest competitors. Additionally, these five halls act as tiers, with more influential gods receiving a statue in the upper halls.

In the previous Dev Q/As, it was mentioned that there will be no direct trade between characters. Then how do we transfer items from one character to another?

By having no direct trade it means scammers, bot abusers and other violators engaged in dishonest activities will have a much more difficult time harming our players and the game’s economy. All drops obtained by a player are either consumed by the player themselves or disassembled into components used for upgrades. All components can also be sold to other players in order to make credits (in-game currency for your character). There are no junk items, so it’s worthwhile to sell the items or components you can't use. Any player trading happens at the Trading Center, and not through direct player to player bartering.

 

Is the total number of followers on Aelion limited? Will the gods need to fight for this resource, or there is no such limit?

We have no plans to introduce such restrictions in the foreseeable future. Aelion is a big planet and there’s plenty of followers for every kind of god imaginable.

 

Will there be second and third levels of the Ascension Atlas for senior and great gods? Or everything will be on the same level of the Atlas?

There are already multiple levels of the Ascension Atlas: The lower level: the class level shows the progression matrix of each class you’ve unlocked. The upper level, shows the progression matrix of your immortal, and progression towards things like class unlocks and your god form. The third level is the divine Atlas, this is a new progression matrix you gain access to once you’ve unlocked your god form. It is possible that, in the future, we will decide to increase the number of levels as we continue to develop and expand the game, but what we have implemented so far is quite extensive and will provide many, many hours of gameplay.

 

Will there be built-in addon support?

It's not possible to create custom addons in the game at this time. However, we will continually listen to your suggestions and will work towards implementing really important features that are missing in the game interface.

 

Will the game support Ultra HD?

Yes, it will. But be aware that Skyforge can be fairly demanding and you will need quite a powerful graphics card for resolutions that high.

 

Why aren't all classes available from the start? Why should I play the class that I don't like to gain access to the one I do?

Starting classes weren't selected randomly. They represent the three main archetypes that can be found in almost any MMO: Tank, DPS and support. They are all easy to master and suitable for any in-game situation, which is very important for gamers new to Skyforge. Players should be more experienced before they dive into more advanced classes.

Skyforge is designed for years of play. If you were to progress towards the furthest classes from the start, you’ll need to spend at least three-weeks’ worth of time in the game working towards those classes and that’s strictly to unlock the classes. It will take much, much more time to progress each class individually in order to unlock their abilities and talents!

How does this compare to your overall play time? Well, one important feature of our game is the ability to switch classes at any time. As you progress through Skyforge, you’ll encounter challenges which necessitate you switching more and more often. Some roles are better suited for certain situations. So whatever the case may be, the classes you'll have developed will regularly come in handy.

 

 

 

Leiloni

Cool, thanks! I can't access the website at work so I was curious what it said! I want to get my hands on beta. The only thing I'm disappointed about right now is how the Lightbinder's weapon is held up by their head on their back. It look awful and gets in the way of looking at my character's face and hair. Very weird. They should just have it held on the back or on the hip. I really hope they fix that.