Reverenced Ire Vent Chat 7-30-06

By Medeor

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The group at this week's Reverenced Ire Ventrilo chat session brought a diverse group of topics to the table. We went from crafting to the ever-popular Go Naked or Go Home, so read on for more...

The recent post from Sigil stated that beta 3 invites would go out towards the end of July and well, we're at July 30th, so we can't get much deeper into July and no invites have arrived (of course no one can talk about being in the beta so maybe they have...hmmm...insert conspiracy theory here!). The reality is that the switch from the SQL world of Microsoft to the SOE world of Oracle and/or Unix may be taking a bit longer than anyone anticipated. As discussed, this is no surprise, but I hadn't thought about the database intensity, and how glad I am to not be a DBA at Sigil right now :)

There was an entertaining discussion on server transfers and the impacts on local economies and "Server First" issues. The consensus revolved around transfers being allowed but characters being required to move without gear or cash - hence Go Naked or Go Home.

Now that we've discussed the fluff, let's get to the nitty gritty of this week's topic - Original Concepts or Retreads. This is my interpretation and may not relfect those of the others in the chat session.

Is Vanguard: Saga of Heroes original or is it taking others' ideas and improving them? Of course one could argue (and most do) that since EQ started "it all" and Brad was there, he can claim rights to being the original. Anyway, I would say that using classes like Bards and Druids and their traditional roles isn't original, the way in which they will coordinate chained actions and participate in a group could in fact be original. One area that is truly original is the scaling death penalty concept. Also, fighting on your own ship sounds pretty original to me, and I'm looking forward to that. Again, we're not certain how most of these ideas are going to be used, but the theory is something completely new. We'll leave this topic open for considerable discussion later. Of course there is a gap between the initial vision and what ends up shipping, so until anything ships these concepts are all just fun things to discuss, argue, and fill up the boards flaming about!

Last but not least we discussed what was an appropriate leveling speed. I've made no secret of the fact that I enjoy progression and gaining levels. Others will take their time and enjoy all the game has to offer. From preliminary discussions it appears that the race to max level will take some time even for those hell-bent on getting there. I would anticipate a good chunk of a year will be required to get there. Then again, this game has so many other facets to improve/enhance/level that after six months I may have a cumulative level of 50 between my spheres, but not a high level in any one sphere. One can only dream at this point.

Thanks again to the RI crew and I'll see...errr...hear you on Sunday!

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