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Log of Second Horizons House of Commons, August 29, 2003
DavidBowman - Hello everyone, thanks for coming. My name is David Bowman and I'm the Creative Director for Horizons: Empire of Istaria.

gallahan - <Vernes> Ok, I have an enormous plot of land, and I've build multiple buildings on them. Can I rent out the building to other players?
gallahan - <Vernes> When only they have access to a certain house?
gallahan - <Vernes> But I still own it?
DavidBowman - Not exactly, you can set permissions so that only characters that you prefer can have access and use those houses... it would be up to you to collect the rent.

gallahan - <Infini> We know there are Profession Special Attributes like Power Attack or Heart Seeker. Pounce, Ancestral Smithing, Natural Armor, Flight have also been mentioned. Are they Racial Special Attributes? If so, what Races have what Attributes?
DavidBowman - Yes, each race has several special abilities inherent to that race... the most obvious examples are for Dragons. But each race gets both adventure and crafting special abilities (some of these will change during Beta, so I'm not going to commit here to which get which...) There are also significant differences in strength, dexterity, power and focus

gallahan - (BeanBoy) 1. When is European beta Due. 2. Where are the servers based? 3. Which company are running the server (and if its the Italian company who its rumored to be) what is being done to rectify their bad track run?
DavidBowman - 1. The European beta will start after we finish stability and connectivity testing here and get through our early content testing phases... we don't commit to dates, it's just a proven bad idea. 2. The servers will be located in Europe... which country will not be disclosed at this time due to contract negotiations. 3. Digital Bros is running the European hosting...

gallahan - <Kyran> Is there going to be an Open Beta for sure? If not for sure, what would influince the 'need' for an open beta?
DavidBowman - If you mean will there be an open beta of the same type as, for example, AC2 held with hundreds of thousands of clients distributed randomly, then no. We take each stage of Beta very seriously and focus on specific goals for each one. Will we have a phase of Beta with significantly more participants than are currently in the game, yes.

gallahan - (Infini) Could you tell us the profession descriptions for the Paladin, Monk, Ranger, Shaman and Druid? All of the rest have already been released.
SteveE - Not at this time. We are going to keep the profession descriptions for launch... we have to keep some things unknown to enjoy! :)

gallahan - (Zbyhnev) Are there realistic animations for crafting skills, like the smith actually pounding something on his anvil, or just standing next to the furnace and transmuting ore into armor?
DavidBowman - Yes, there are complete sets of animations for all races for each of the crafting actions in the game.
DavidBowman - There are over 250 animations per race at this time, and we will continue to add more as we go.

gallahan - <Genecyst> What benefits will the game include as incentives grouping and guilding?
DavidBowman - There are few incentives necessary to cause players to group, but we have made it extremely easy for both groups and guilds to communicate, organize, keep track of each other and otherwise interact. It is possible to solo through Horizons, but many actions will go much more rapidly and be achieved more readily if you share the responsiblity of achievement.

gallahan - <Iceman21> Does the individual items/equipment that one wears change the appearence of the avatar? Such as can I see myself wear a plate helm, chain tunic and leather legs?
DavidBowman - The guild interfact is in game and gui driven. The grouping mechanism allows currently for 10 (and this may change) characters to easily form a group.
SteveE - Yes the items of clothing and armor your avatar wears changes your appearance.

gallahan - (Sabbath|SMC) I have heard about vaults being for storage, and some house limits to storage, are we going to be able to stock pile resources? and if so is that going to be limited?
DavidBowman - You will be able to gather and maintain a large number of resources in the world. That storage is not infinite. In game actions can increase that size (structure ownership, larger containers, etc)... but it must be finite. How large still remains to be balanced.

gallahan - <elsimer> Currently, what is the minimum time it will take for a dragon to go from juvenile to ancient?
SteveE - This is something special that again, we are withholding for now. The Right of Passage from juvenile to adult to ancient will have to be sought after in the game.

gallahan - *Raven_Estiu* Will there be any Seer/GM rp plots, outside of the game's storyline? If so, will it be ongoing or one time adventure?
DavidBowman - There will be many, many events run by World Masters in the game... our live team will provide lots of new content that assists in those events as well as responds to the player's driving of the ongoing story... Istaria is a changing world.. the World Masters will help keep that change entertaining. The frequency will vary, but the scope will go from small group to server wide... and with our unique technology we will be able to run these without advanc

gallahan - (Dom|Castia) What sort of PvP will be implemented, if at all?
SteveE - There will be no PvP for launch. We are exlporing options for dueling and some day arena fighting as well.

gallahan - (Swdrgn) Many MMO's in the past during development have had a reputation on delivering game features and release dates that never come about and are proved to be innacurate. I found by talking with many players their biggest gripe about any new released game is what features were boasted about and never made real. What has the Dev team been doing to prevent this from happening in Horizons? Have you delbt with this issue before?
DavidBowman - Well, this company started out with a similar issue... and we learned that lesson well. It's not through spite or negative intentions, I think all developers intend to create the dream game for everyone... but reality steps in and if they haven't done this before, they don't realize how long it takes to do all of the things they think of... and what sacrifices they would have to make to be sure the technology could provide what they promised.. We have m

gallahan - *Kyran* Are there going to be male and female dragons or are all scaled creatures on Istaria going to be genderless? This has brought up a bit of consern among those who wish to play these races.
SteveE - Dragons are genderless. However this does not prevent a role-player to have a definitive male or female name associated to their dragon which will allow them to play in their desired role.
DavidBowman - I'll counter that opinion... they have gender... we just don't add mammalian secondary sexual characteristics to them... players get to play the role they prefer and if lesser races can't figure it out, too bad.

gallahan - *NiBrighid* How will guilds work, for example, minimum number of characters [or accounts?] to pick their own name...will it be patron/vassal like AC1, or more like DAoC, where the distribution of power and function is entirely up to the players?
SteveE - Guilds are very robust in that they can handle a significant number of players belonging to that guild. I hestitate to give exact numbers but it can handle the largest guilds existing today. The guild management systems we have given to the guilds allows them to choose how they want to structure their heirarchy, nomenclature associated to each member, goals for the guild, website, etc. It is entirely up to the Guild master and the members of the guild.

gallahan - (Genecyst) Would it be possible for a group of crafters of different schools to work together to create a single item (excluding buildings) of much better quality than any one member of the group could create alond? or cut the creation time?
DavidBowman - Since the creation of an item takes no real world time (other than the time to hit the create button), it is not possible to decrease the time of creation... multiple characters working together can decrease the overall time required to obtain all of the resources and materials to create a special item through coordinated efforts. All of that said, we are interested in having some very special items that do require multiple people to simultaneously continuely build.

gallahan - <PReppa> Is there a limit to how high dragons can fly? And how much will they be able to see of the landscape around them when they are high up? Will flying high cause bad framerate/lag?
DavidBowman - Yes, there is an altitude limit, (ancient's is higher). Their ability to see and framerate is influenced by the machine and video card they are using.

gallahan - (Fan_Since_00) First off, I would like to take the time on behalf of everyone to thank the developers for your dedication to a game that I have followed and anticipated for many years now. My question:
gallahan - (Fan_Since_00) Land Plots and houses are obviously an important part to the development of a character in Horizons, and will clearly play a part in a person's identity within the game, but many people are afraid of the time commitment that they may involve, especially in their construction.
gallahan - (Fan_Since_00) What options will a player have to make a "construction team" of sorts? In other words, if I am a skilled carpenter, am I the only one that is allowed to build my buildings?
gallahan - (Fan_Since_00) Assuming i have no carpentry skills at all, will I have to contract the construction of my house to a craftsman? What can I do to assure that the project will be completed on time?
gallahan - (Fan_Since_00) Assuming I have the resources, can I hire 15 independent carpenters and allow them all to coordinate on the house to allow it to be built faster? Thank you again.
SteveE - Community Building can be an all out community effort or limited to a single player. If a player chooses they can allocate resources (currency or bartering other resources or services in exchange) for the creation of the structure. However if a player wants to build it by themselves, then they will have the ability to do so. The only thing one can do to ensure it is built in time is to offer a large enough incentive to entice a tradesperson to build it fa
SteveE - If you have all the resources you need in order to create the structure, then yes, its just a matter of finding the skilled tradesperson to build it.
SteveE - ... I'm still answering the community building ques... so forgive my comments :)
SteveE - since enough got cut off...The only thing one can do to ensure it is built in time is to offer a large enough incentive to entice a tradesperson to build it fast enough.
SteveE - If you have enough gold/currency to pay for the structure to be built....
SteveE - All of this can happen while a player is on or offline. If a player has all currency allocated for the job at hand they can come back, after not being in game for a few days, and find their structure completed and the gold already paid.
SteveE - :) Sorry, I hope I answered it all.
DavidBowman - Heh, long answer to a long question Steve.

gallahan - (Scayle) Could you tell us how many prestige schools you're shooting to have finished for release? And how is the economy of the game going in beta? Is it pretty stable?
DavidBowman - I'll tell you the same thing I tell the Beta participants... that is a content question: wait and see. We add in prestige schools and skills throughout the beta, and then will continue to add them after launch... and after, and after... we have over a dozen right now and will have more at launch.

gallahan - *Sabbath|SMC* When we do get houses and we start to decorate, how many items are we going to be limited to? Have you guys taken into consideration for house decorating? IE paintings rugs that sort of thing for the crafters?
SteveE - then all the resources are placed in a kind of escrow that pays out the gold when the job has been completed. This can also work for the resources. If a player needs the resources to build the structure, they can allocate gold/currency for the delivery of these resources
DavidBowman - We are still developing the interior decorating portion of housing and structure development, so I don't yet know the limit. Our goal is to provide a very flexible system of decoration... we have already developed many assets for interior decoration: rugs, paintings, statues, furniture, plants, etc...

gallahan - *Kyran* Are their any plans to release a separate character generator to the public like Earth & Beyond did? Those of us who'll never make it into beta will appreciate having something feasible to obsess over. ;)
SteveE - There are no plans at this time to release a seperate character generator. We'll do our best with our next series of trailers to keep those as involved as possible :)

gallahan - (Zbyhnev) Okay...Housing, will it be possible in exotic spots like mountaintops, beaches, cliffs above the sea, small islands? And will i be able to build something else than a cottage and a castle? That means, wizard towers, lighthouses, maybe some treehouses, log cabins...And will I have accesories to the houses, like a nice pile of wood laid against the wall of my log cabin? Can I order pets to guard structures?
DavidBowman - and even more exotic than those beautiful but earthlike locations. Yes, there are over seventy different structures today and more coming... including walkways, fountains, towers, ten different architectural styles. There are many different assets in addition for personalizing those structures. When we add controllable AI characters (notice I said add) you will be able to do that...

gallahan - *Apophis[MP-HZ]* What we be the option for all Members in a guild ? Can they be able to manage all they ressources togerther ? Gold and other thing ?
SteveE - Yes guilds can manage their resources together. It is up to the Guild Master to set up this ability through the in-game guild management system. An example would be, if I were the Guild Master, I set all player (I am Rank 1) who reach level 20 are “Rank 2”. Rank 2 guild members can then manage the resource pool since I have allowed anyone of rank 1 or rank 2 to do so.

gallahan - (Sabbath|SMC) problems with the economy have ruined several games, what steps are you guys going to take to make sure the economy won't be ruined by things like duping.
DavidBowman - We have the ability to monitor in real time the economy of Istaria. We have various controls in place (some obvious, others not) that allow us to influence the global, local and individual economies. I won't be naive enough to say there won't be attempted duping in Horizons... but we are aware (boy am I aware) of the impact duping has on games and have taken steps to deal with the impact if that were to occur (perhaps I should just say when that occurs)

gallahan - (Infini) This is more of a suggestion than a question. Maybe as a promotional bit, you could release a demo of the character creation portion of the game. For us die hards, we could spend weeks looking at all the possible options. Thanks for everything! It looks great.
SteveE - For those of you who have not seen the Character Creation trailer you should try to check it out. For those that have not seen it, it will be up on (Link: www.istaria.com)www.istaria.com by end of next week.

gallahan - (Zbyhnev) If potion effects mimic spell effects for the most part, is there any point for a wizard to do alchemy?
DavidBowman - If I understand your question correctly, you are concerned that potions are just wizardry in a bottle?... That is not what happens with potions in Horizons, so yes, even Wizards can benefit from potions.

gallahan - *Apophis[MP-HZ]* Could We have the possibility to play in a little Windows ?
SteveE - If I understand little windows correctly... you will be able to play Horizons in either full screen mode or windowed mode. Its up to you how 'little' you want it.
DavidBowman - Thank you all for the great questions, it's always fun to come to Stratics. I look forward to seeing all of you in game and a big thanks to Tigam, Gallahan, and QT for their controlled chaos in the background...
DavidBowman - Bye for now.

gallahan - Thanks for coming to tonight's Horizons House of Commons chat!

gallahan - Logs will be posted shortly on (Link: http://hz.stratics.com!)http://hz.stratics.com!

gallahan - Please feel free to head over to #horizons for free discussion amongst yourselves

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Last updated: January 31, 2004
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