#ask_the_staff Questions and Answers

Announcements, updates and news concerning the Requiem project.
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Sic
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Character: Isidor Abendroth

#ask_the_staff Questions and Answers

Post by Sic » August 27th, 2020, 12:09 am

#ask_the_staff Q & A, 8/20 to 8/27

It's that time of the week to answer all of your lovely #ask_the_staff questions. Remember that you can always submit your answer anonymously to the staff in the community Discord room; check out the #ask_the_staff channel for details!

And without further ado...


What is the standing rules for "re-entering" a PVP after you get knocked out by another player? 5 mins after you recover from death illness? How many times is acceptable or until you get PDed? Must I accept that I am "captured" if I only get knocked out once?

This is a question that seems to vary from shard to shard and is almost always met with some sort of controversy or issue. PVP in Requiem is obviously a little bit more high stakes than other shards, and thus, giving your downed enemy an opportunity to get back up and potentially KO and PD you is a dangerous precedent to live by.
For these reasons, we will be ensuring that before launch, PVP KOs are properly registering adding an increased stat debuff time to keep people out of the fight for at least five minutes. Additionally, we will be ensuring that tools to properly “capture” players are in game and readily available as to provide a mechanical method to facilitate RP, in so that no one is arguing over “well you were beat up how’d you run”.


Would you consider opening the server earlier, for a month or so, just so ppl could get to remember old things and test new, plan their builds, new players could see what's this about etc? Could be just some small area in the map, characters would be discardable but game still IC.

The only reason we may consider opening early for players is for dedicated testing of specific systems that require more bodies or stress testing. We will not open the shard up until all the pieces are put in place. The staff does not have the luxury of pouring inordinate amounts of time into development on top of running the server, and when we have attempted to do that, the in-game plots and general “gamemastering” suffered for it greatly.

Will magic system remain similar to Act 5? Or will it be remade into runicbook-something?

The magic system is planned to remain similar to Act 5, as to keep in line with our lore and world-building. The system will be going through playtesting before launch as to see if we can make some changes to it to make it more accessible to players whom may of never tinkered with it before.

Will staff add in information of known factions groups, that are active in First Province? Who’s leading them, rumored strength and motives. This will give players a better idea of power struggle happening within , rather then the old way of swinging it as we go along. It will give players a better feel about the region and how they will like to work to be affiliated with these known groups....or strike it out on their own. Wouldn’t be considered OOC info since there are people living in First Province/activities happening which such rumors can spread...(All information can turn out to be false anyway but generic idea should be accurate enough for players to work upon)

We are currently fleshing out the “main” factions and their lore on the website now. Following that, we will be adding shorter “sub-faction” pages for each of the sub-factions that you’ll be seeing in game in Act VI. These include individual Chapters of Templars, specific guilds of the Foundry, and so on. Rest assured, nearly all of the factions that you will meet in Act VI will have a website companion page where you can figure out a little bit more about them and what they’re all about.

Mechanics seem to favor group tactics. Will followers be available outside of magical summons?

Followers have been a mechanic that we have long tried to balance accordingly in Requiem. As of now, the only “followers” that exist are those of the magical summoning nature – and of which would normally be cause for murder if caught using. We have purposefully avoided adding any sort of Taming skills to the game as the entire administration and staff simply do not feel they can add more than they detract. With that said, we have considered a few scenarios that limited followers may find their place in the shard, specifically for non-group/solo players, perhaps in the form of wolf companions or otherwise. This is not a commitment, but more so a “maybe we’ll think about it in the future”.

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Sic
Aeolian Staff
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Character: Isidor Abendroth

Re: #ask_the_staff Questions and Answers

Post by Sic » September 4th, 2020, 1:53 am

#ask_the_staff Q & A, 8/27 to 9/3

It's that time of the week to answer all of your lovely #ask_the_staff questions. Remember that you can always submit your answer anonymously to the staff in the community Discord room; check out the #ask_the_staff channel for details!

And without further ado...


The factions relationship system will be overhauled it seems. Will players be able to have their own unique relationships with each faction? Or will it only be limited to guilds? How exactly would those relationships be built/changed? The mechanic was severely underused in the past. Also, will faction NPC's act according to the relationships? For example if you are in a druid guild and you are allied to a forest spirit faction, will the forest monsters stop attacking your guild members? (or you alone if you can have your own personal relationships) Please explain how this all will work and what can we expect from friendly/enemy guilds to affect our game experience.

Due to the nature of real life obligations and staff availability and time, there is no way we can commit to any semblance of being able to provide meaningful, unique experiences and relationships on an individualized basis to each and every player out there, nor would I ever expect or ask the staff here at Requiem to do that. At one time, long, long ago, we may have had the time and willpower to do this, but for anyone to expect highly personalized attention on the micro level has to understand that for us to be able to properly and adequately utilize our time in-game, everyone has to get on board with the idea that we will be focusing our efforts on groups of like-minded individuals. In lieu of trying to cater to everyone on a micro level, we will instead be formulating a new meta-plan that will put GMs in charge of “administering” one or more guilds, serving as a staff liaison for them and helping them achieve their shared, group goals and objectives while also providing to them quests in the form of Verses and other endeavors. This is not to say that will be completely be ignoring individualized RP, but we want to be able to spend our time more efficiency in-game.

Mechanically speaking, faction NPCs can and will interact with this system, so there is absolutely the potential of a group being hostile to one NPC faction and “friendly” to another.




Do you already have a location where the server will be hosted at?

Yes; the hosting takes place in the US as to cater to the majority of our players.





Did you clarify anywhere yet or decide if its a full reset? IE. Everyone starting from 0 or if there is some sort of uhh.. I dunno. Animus recovery etc?


There will be a full-wipe for the opening of Act VI. We are formulating and planning for non-animus rewards for veteran community members that will honor their commitment to the community but avoid placing them on an unfair advantage to the rest of the population. When we have the details for this, it will be announced in full and in earnest.



Will musicianship be a skill as the talent skill section indicates?

I actually had to look this up, and you're absolutely right we advertise it as such. While we have no immediate plans for this, it is right up our alley of focusing on RP and immersion systems for this new Act vs. balancing and developing numerous new major mechanics.




Will any of the skills be condensed?

As of this time, we are not considering any major skill changes apart from POSSIBLE changes to magic meta and potentially adding in a new combat skill.



Will your testing of systems be open for everyone to test or is it in house staff testing you described in another ask the staff question?

We will be picking and choosing testing candidates for Act VI, with a focus on using new people we haven't before.



How mechanically will Torment spread? If I fight a tormented soul in Chainmail/heavy armor, can I use a fire source to "disinfect" weaponry/armor ,so that I dont unwittingly bring it back to town? Can "silver water" use to disinfect cloth materials?

The Torment is a virulent enemy that can and will spread through air, consumption and direct contact. Rest assured that there will be ways to protect yourself from Torment Saturation, but we will leave these unsaid for now as to not ruin any potential surprises. Very good question and even potential ideas for us to work in though, thank you!



Does the Reeve still have the most authority in the Foundry and what currencies are currently used by the foundry?

As turbulent as the First Province is, the Foundry has shored up its' stakes in Prae', so you may see some new faces around. As for currency, we are not deviating from the standard copper/silver/gold solution.



Will Sanity be impt part of survival in this Act? Is Int is the only stats to counter it? How about strength which equal constitution? Can potions be made/food/hunger be used to lessen/slow the effect? (Good for Crafters)


Sanity will definitely be a new feature to worry about in this Act. There will be various methods to combat its' loss, and restore yourself from levels of insanity, to include consumables, Allopathy treatments, and simply visiting Sanctuary areas. Insanity can and will lead to new mental conditions that may impact your character and their RP in ways that hopefully won't hinder your game experience, but add some flair to it that you may of never knew you wanted.



Will there be an animus wipe? As a long-time vet, I'd love to see one.


Yes, as answered before, we will be wiping characters and animus for Act VI. Prior characters, at this time, will be availble to re-app and play, however will begin as new players mechanically speaking.







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Sic
Aeolian Staff
Posts: 368
Character: Isidor Abendroth

Re: #ask_the_staff Questions and Answers

Post by Sic » September 18th, 2020, 5:23 pm

#ask_the_staff Q & A, 9/4 to 9/18

It's that time of the week to answer all of your lovely #ask_the_staff questions. Remember that you can always submit your answer anonymously to the staff in the community Discord room; check out the #ask_the_staff channel for details!

Apologies for the little lag time on this one, we have been in heavy development since last week.

And without further ado...

Can a brief story be written about what happened to the story from previous Act/Beta? So that returning players can app in a way consistent with the lore. I kinda forgotten what happened. I know we had made ways to move eastwards with a player fort and even trying to destroy some stone barriers blocking the way to East.

Yes, an updated story primer along with “The Story So Far” summary will be provided before launch.

Will the misfire rate on guns be adjusted or flat out removed, or the amount of damage a misfire significantly decreased? Players who have attempted to use them previously were being knocked out constantly by misfires, regardless of the misfire risk precentage, and found the damage to risk ratio just wasn't worth it. It becomes even less attractive when you factor in mortality and the chance of randomly dying any time you are fighting anything.

Among many other systems being revised for greater accessibility, guns will be re-engineered into a viable combat skill with the ability to achieve a use scenario where you don’t just randomly blow up.

Will different ore types have special mechanical effects? For example, silver dealing more damage to undeads.... Shadow/wrought iron having more physical/slashing damage etc... ( Even if no mechanical benefits, even some "sparkle" for silver weapon on undead will give us enough to Role-play..... Please?

As of now, there are no mechanical effects that come in to play with creature types. This may change prior to launch depending on us completing our roadmap.

Will tracking be back? Especially the one where we can follow the footprints of intended target....Its a good counter to stealth and its not OP as following the tracks takes longer time and sometimes we can lose the scent...

There are no pre-launch plans to re-enable this version of tracking as it was not optimized code-wise.

Can crafters use "aminus" to increase chances of EO/MW ?

There is not a feature in the current build that does this, so no.

Are classes (prelacy, citizen, etc.) meant to have mechanical/RP advantages, or are they just for RP flavor?

There will be advantages in the form of character backgrounds that may involve social classes of the Republic come launch. You will have to check and see what new features have been added to character creation for the full details.

Will it be possible to be part of the republican factions?

There will be opportunities to be involved in a limited way with the Factions through the new guild system and through Sub-Factions, which we will announce at a later time.

When will the server open?

We are looking at an early to mid-November window due to Shadowlands being released on October 27th. We had originally quoted the weekend of Halloween for our projected launch, but it was recently pointed out to us that WoW's latest X-Pac, Shadowlands, is in fact releasing on October 27th which will significantly impact our numbers and in some cases staff availability.

Will there be a fishing skill/Or a capability to fish added to an existing skill?

There are no immediate plans to add Fishing to the game just yet.

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Sic
Aeolian Staff
Posts: 368
Character: Isidor Abendroth

Re: #ask_the_staff Questions and Answers

Post by Sic » September 26th, 2020, 1:16 am

#ask_the_staff Q & A, 9/18 to 9/25

It's that time of the week to answer all of your lovely #ask_the_staff questions. Remember that you can always submit your answer anonymously to the staff in the community Discord room; check out the #ask_the_staff channel for details!

And without further ado...

Are there non-immediate plans to add Fishing to the game?

Yes. We have post-launch plans to add in some flavor skills that include fishing, treasure hunting, and other mini-game like things. We're of the mindset that quality of life things like this that let people do more fun neat stuff out there in the game world adds to the flavor of the shard and gets people more engaged.

wadddddup



in Requiem lore.. is worshiping the "old gods" something that people still do? I know that was the Consortium's biz, but I'm wondering if that's prevalent at all in the world otherwise. clearly the story of Decus involves higher beings than Decus, so it seems logical that people might take up on worshiping them. but I imagine it would be seen as a bit heretical or witchy

In a world as vast as Eden and even Vitaveus, paganistic worship of ancients and entities other than the One True God are undoubtedly a thing. And, as you may imagine, such heresy is treated with extreme prejudice by the Ecclesial Authority.

How much time has past since the end of Act V to the Start of Act VI in game time?

This will be around a year and a half; enough time to keep your old characters or write them off as dead.

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Sic
Aeolian Staff
Posts: 368
Character: Isidor Abendroth

Re: #ask_the_staff Questions and Answers

Post by Sic » January 28th, 2021, 3:34 am

#ask_the_staff Q & A, End of 2020 to 1/24

It's that time of the week to answer all of your lovely #ask_the_staff questions. Remember that you can always submit your answer anonymously to the staff in the community Discord room; check out the #ask_the_staff channel for details!

And without further ado...


Can a spear be used with a shield?

That would be a negative. Currently, there aren’t any one-handed spears available. We do have a few different spears, such as the infantry spear (Fencing) and the traditional spear (Polearms).

If we donated in the previous act to unlock character slots will those carry over to this act?

We are still evaluating the details of this amongst the staff and will have a decision prior to launch.

Could you provide some guidelines on the types of names people from certain regions usually have? Say characters that were born in the North could have names similar to those from old Scandinavia in Viking era? Are names from Prodai styled close to Arabic names? Perhaps just a first name without the second one? And, does the social status (citizenship,...) influence the name chosen? Thanks!

As we get closer to launch, we will release further individualized lore of the three Regions of Vitaveus as to assist players in thinking up good names and character concepts. Currently, we've been fleshing out the character selection to assist with a few details such as what you're asking about. Thank you for this question, helps us determine what you guys are looking for!

Will there be official support for Linux, given that CUO runs natively on Linux?

We do not have any developers currently focusing specifically on proper compatibility with Linux.
Considering ClassicUO is compatible with Linux, I would tentatively say that you should not have any issues with actually utilizing the Requiem client outside of file updating.


Could you expand a bit on Consortium ranks? In Consortium lore drop, you mentioned "Occisoris" and "Inceptor" but those have been hardly mentioned thus far.


We are taking a very slow and methodical approach to how we handle the lore of the project for this iteration of Requiem. Our lore and story are our most important and valuable commodity here, and we want to ensure that is being treated with reverence and respect. Therefore, we have relegated available lore into two categories: launch lore and expansion lore. We have accounted for a few topics of lore that we will have up for launch, some of which has already been released. Future lore expansions, aka expansion lore, will be published to the website at times to coincide with specific Seasonal content drops. The information and planned information available on the website right now are designed to give a surface-level insight into the major concepts of the shard and its major plot elements.


In Neverwinter Nights servers they often put up a test server where players can create test characters and plan builds for their characters that they are making. Would you guys ever consider doing the same?

Yes. Post-launch, we will have a fully stand-alone test server. The hardware and equipment have already been purchased.

With the addition of two handed tactics, it says it effects your chance to hit an opponent. How does this equate with weapon skills already? Is it just a boost to accuracy or without it a 2 handed weapon fighter won't be able to hit at all? Does this not just nerf melee fighters by chaining them down to needing another skill to be relevant when mages are overly powerful and only need to focus on magical skills leaving them open to take more flavour or crafting skills?

The changes to Two-Handed Tactics and Tactics are far more reaching than patch notes can do justice. While a dev journal is planned to go over martial combat in earnest, addressing this point would be valuable now.
The change and addition of this skill is three-fold:

1) Two-handed weapons are now a class in-of-themselves and are a far-cry from what they traditionally have been in prior Acts and other shards. All two-handers now do a significant amount of increased DPS above their one-handed counter-parts, have been equalized to ensure that all weapons are viable, and also enjoy expanded and additional Special Weapon Moves. Due to the wildly different natures of Two-Handers vs One-Handers, this is one reason why we’ve adopted a second chance-to-hit skill.

2) Prior to the addition of the new skill, chance-to-hit was based upon a character’s skill in a given weapon vs. their target’s skill with the weapon skill that governed the attacker’s weapon. This would mean that if you were being attacked by an axe-fighter, and you were wielding a sword, your skill checks would still be made against your skill in axe-fighting. This meta was unsustainable and unfair to both melee and mage classes alike. The change introduced now narrows the default chance-to-hit formula down to two potential skills, giving all characters a chance to build up a default chance-to-hit protection with an investment of 200% skill value if they so choose to do so. This makes being a warrior easier.

3) Mage PVP efficiency has been altered significantly for Act VI, and has been tested with a core focus group. Mages will now have a more balanced experience and have less effective utility spells and abilities; this includes the magical ability to evade and circumvent damage. All characters are now more closely beholden to utilizing skills and equipment rather than spells to ensure the most optimal survivability in any circumstance. Specifically, to your point, a mage who is not properly investing in defensive skills (Tactics, Two-Handed, Finesse, Parry, etc.) is not a character that is expected to be able to evade, tank or avoid being struck in martial combat through the use of spells that formerly allowed them to enjoy such a perk.


Are there any staff members running plots on fitting times for European playtimes?

We currently have a dedicated Administrator for EU playtime hours and will expand upon our EU timezone staffing levels if and when the need arises post-launch.

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Sic
Aeolian Staff
Posts: 368
Character: Isidor Abendroth

Re: #ask_the_staff Questions and Answers

Post by Sic » February 20th, 2021, 2:40 am

#ask_the_staff Q & A, 1/24 to 2/20

It's that time of the month to answer all of your lovely #ask_the_staff questions. Remember that you can always submit your answer anonymously to the staff in the community Discord room; check out the #ask_the_staff channel for details!

And without further ado...


For skill “Juggernaut” under heavy armor, does it mean if I get a critical headshot from guns, It will be healed insane amount of HP?

Juggernaut heals for 10% maximum of a hit – depending on the critical achieved and the upper range of a damage roll, this value wouldn’t ever be above the range of 10 to 20 HP in the most highest ends of rolls.

Whats the HP increase for each piece of Light/Medium/Heavy armor?

https://www.13thrones.com/abilities/arm ... ingiii.htm
Light armors now receive a +3 HP bonus, medium armors now receive a +6 HP bonus, and heavy armors now receive a +9 HP bonus.


Strength Damage Bonus % = STR * 0.2
Other then above Strength benefits, what are the other benefit and at certain level does it have additional perks? E.g. at 200 dex you have increased dodge chances etc…


Strength is up to 25% of your total potential 100% of damage bonus in martial combat (25 at 125). It also determines carry capacity and the ability to wield various equipment.

If Heavy armor is unable to sprint to escape, shouldn’t they have an extra perk called “Holdfast”, it which it has X% of chance of not being able to be knocked down by skills or other spells.

As a new quality of life change, all classes benefit from temporary chain CC/Hold immunity. Heavy armor has various custom benefits depending on certain special weapon move abilities as well.

Any attack delays/amination delays for polearms?

No.

If an account had character slots opened on the previous act, will they still be open for this act?

Due to the changes with Act VI, prior accounts have been wiped and the staff has unanimously decided upon a fresh-slate doctrine. We have however lowered the cost of the Secondary character slot to 15 LP, and we will also be provided players whom apply and are accepted to play for Act VI prior to 03/03/21 a complementary bonus LP gift as recognition and appreciation for their involvement and support of our community.

Is the paradigm of a guerrilla faction feasible? An organization that seeks to weaken foes through attrition by disrupting their supplies (at nodes and through attacks of opportunity) while not investing effort in holding these supply nodes? Is it required to have a base of operations like a claim with a faction identifier on it?

This concept is entirely possible and there are no requirements for a Faction to have to own regions or land; the conquest portion of the Faction system is entirely optional.

Faith lore on the Decusian church.
Gender domination (male pref, female pref, or equal)


There is no gender domination in the Decusian church or society.

Divorces/marriage?

Marriage, civil union and divorce are considered more-so as civil structures rather than sacraments, as the basis of Decusian faith is the individual’s salvation and aspiration towards Ascendance.

Ecumenism?

There are no offshoots or other denominations of Decusianism that are officially or unofficially recognized or accepted by the Ecclesial Authority, and as such, there is no drive for cooperation between denominations. Such splintering would be considered blasphemy.

Confessions, indulgence, Reconciliation, do we have communion?

Confessions,Indulgences and Reconciliation all exist in forms similar to that of the Catholic church, but can vary wildly in how they are performed depending on regional customs. Communion and the idea of communion does not exist in the sense that while Decus was considered to have been a corporeal being at one time, he is revered as having become mortal, experiencing death, and ultimately does not exist in the afterlife due to Heaven’s Requiem.

Does the idea of Pentarchy exist? (holy sites are considered seats of absolute power)

To an extent, the Ecclesial Authority exists as a Pentarchy, as it retains complete and absolute power over all dominions of the Republic.

Monoasticism ( regular people can take the vow and become a Monk of the faith)?

Monasticism exists as a common and desirable life path for many within the Republic that are not fortunate enough to be born into wealth or citizenship.

Do Decusians have any belief in Gnotcism (the idea through spiritual enlightenment the divine spark in all humans may return to heaven)?

Decusian faith is based upon the idea of Ascension, of which requires spiritual enlightenment and adherence to a moral code to help the human spirit “evolve” enough to transcend out of the cycle of reincarnation and to assume a place in Heaven as penance for humanity’s errors with in conducting Heaven’s Requiem.

Do Mendicant style preachers exist? (priests who have taken a vow of poverty and are only allowed to survive off the generosity of others).

In a continent of hundreds of millions of people, it would be safe to say this concept is alive and well.

How is "Vitaveus" pronounced? I've heard vee-tay-vee, vahy-TAY-vee-uhs, and vih-tuh-VEE-uhs.

Do not let Hale deceive you; it is vahy-TAY-vee-uhs. And on that note, it’s also Dee-Kus (but sometimes Deh-kus).

If I had a character in one of the previous chapters, do I have to apply for a new account and/or character now? Can I create a new character on that old account?

Old accounts no longer exist for Act VI. You may reapply using an old character that was previously approved for Act V, so long as that character did not die in Act V.

How long does an Act usually last?

Anywhere between one to two years.

Is there a character template to enable solo survival. Can an archer make everything they need without ever contacting others? What skills would be needed to effectively hunt wildlife? Would 50 archery and 50 tactics work for hunting wildlife? What skills would be needed to make a bow and arrows? What skills would be needed to roast meat? Can raw meat be cooked right over a fire or does it require a frying pan? Is it possible to get potable water without going to a well? Is it possible to live in the wild and maintain sanity?

The quick and dirty answer to all of these questions is yes; all of it is possible. Carpentry would be used to help support a solo Archer out in the wild, and numerous other changes in Act VI have further made survival easier. Sanity debuffs normally only apply to characters whom are actively monkeying around in areas of extreme duress or violence – the normal woods, albeit spooky, wouldn’t really apply for that. You should be able to obtain water in the wild from rivers (and boil it to keep it clean).

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