Downtime Q&A with Eoghan

Eoghan

Hi, Imperian!

While we wait for the game to come back up, I'll take some time to answer questions that y'all post in here.

I don't have access to the game, either, so anything that requires me to check something in-game may not get an answer (depending on if I have the data on my testing infrastructure), but I do have access to game code, my notes, and my brain.

I'm not going to drop any spoilers for Engineers, though, sorry!

Athene

I feel like as a Berserker my sword is pretty much useful only for delivering specific toxins in combat, and since shield balance is constant there's no reason to use anything than a longsword (or maybe scimitar at trans Weaponry) with Slash in order to maximize the speed of shield/warchants if you use one at all. Even when bashing, using the double slam does more DPS than any blade attack, so it seems like it's more just a tool for giving the occasional xeroderma/strychnine/metrazol/etc than it is a weapon. Arguably, fleche/impale/disembowel/whatever use it, and it's used for the Reprise defense, but fleche and disembowel currently suck so bad that there's no sense in using them outside of niche purposes.

Could you guys at least bump up a longsword's Blade Slash to do the same damage per hit as Shield Slam in bashing? It'd do nothing other than adding a bit of flavor, but I'm all about the flavor! I wanna stab things!

Eoghan

Adjusting bashing-only weapon damage is possible (though a bit painful, because of how weapon damage is calculated). I'm not going to say no, but I am going to say... that it's something we'll have to look at during classleads.

Lynyssa

When will classleads happen, now you mention it?

Athene

Eoghan said:

Adjusting bashing-only weapon damage is possible (though a bit painful, because of how weapon damage is calculated). I'm not going to say no, but I am going to say... that it's something we'll have to look at during classleads.

I get it! I'd just love to get a chance to use swords more often, and maybe make the ones we can use more viable! Right now, all the shield attacks are 2.9s with Athletic, so there's absolutely no incentive to use anything other than blade slash with a longsword (which is at 2.9s at minimum Weaponry). Sabres and scimitars are faster than that which means wasted potential (a heavy scimitar at trans weaponry is just about 2.9s though) and broadswords are slower, which means you're slowing down 2/3 of your affs for a little extra damage on the first aff. The problem with Blade Strike is the same. There's just no incentive for using Strike over Slash when all your other attacks are still the same speed. There's no, say, heavy shield attack you can combo for maximized damage, and even if there was it'd probably be weaker than a maxed-out shield batter.

Mercer

The recent token wares change is interesting, but shouldn't some things like customization/shop/house tokens be available all the time?

I think it hurts if someone wants one but having to wait 12 days just to see if it is available

Galt

Are the "Horde Mothers" thing that used to crop up in events/lore still a thing? Little was mentioned about them, but it was hinted that they spawn the horde, much like queen bees.

Eoghan

Lynyssa said:

When will classleads happen, now you mention it?

Unfortunately I can't give a specific date, because it's gated behind other projects . It will happen after Engineers are finished and have had a bit of time to find their place in the game and combat meta.

Mercer said:

The recent token wares change is interesting, but shouldn't some things like customization/shop/house tokens be available all the time?

I think it hurts if someone wants one but having to wait 12 days just to see if it is available

Will think about that and kick it up to Jeremy. I don't disagree, but the timeframe isn't THAT long, either.

Galt said:

Are the "Horde Mothers" thing that used to crop up in events/lore still a thing? Little was mentioned about them, but it was hinted that they spawn the horde, much like queen bees.

As a concept, they still exist. The horde (especially the eastern horde) is somewhat fractured, not a single unified entity, but they are generally matriarchal and most eastern horde have some concept similar to the one you're describing.

Eoghan

Athene said:

Eoghan said:

Adjusting bashing-only weapon damage is possible (though a bit painful, because of how weapon damage is calculated). I'm not going to say no, but I am going to say... that it's something we'll have to look at during classleads.

I get it! I'd just love to get a chance to use swords more often, and maybe make the ones we can use more viable! Right now, all the shield attacks are 2.9s with Athletic, so there's absolutely no incentive to use anything other than blade slash with a longsword (which is at 2.9s at minimum Weaponry). Sabres and scimitars are faster than that which means wasted potential (a heavy scimitar at trans weaponry is just about 2.9s though) and broadswords are slower, which means you're slowing down 2/3 of your affs for a little extra damage on the first aff. The problem with Blade Strike is the same. There's just no incentive for using Strike over Slash when all your other attacks are still the same speed. There's no, say, heavy shield attack you can combo for maximized damage, and even if there was it'd probably be weaker than a maxed-out shield batter.

Heard. Other statpacks do exist, which is something we need to keep in mind, but your point is taken and understood.

Athene

Thanks! Please look into it, I REALLY adore the Berserker class!

Anyway, to ask an actual question: Will we ever possibly get expansions or trips into Horde home territory, Shadow of Mordor style?

Eoghan

Athene said:

Speaking of that, will we ever possibly get expansions or trips into Horde home territory, Shadow of Mordor style?

Never say never, but probably never.

Aodan

I know you don't want to drop spoilers on engineer but lets face it, its been a long wait, and I'd like at least a really rough estimate of when it'll be out. my reasoning being, I'm bored, losing interest, and the one thing that keeps me interested is trying new professions, tinkering with them in combat. if engineer is going to be 6+ months away, I'd rather go ahead and get another profession and (hopefully) buy up lessons in the next sale for engineer.

Athene

Eoghan said:

Athene said:

Speaking of that, will we ever possibly get expansions or trips into Horde home territory, Shadow of Mordor style?

Never say never, but probably never.

Is that because of in-game reasons or just no incentive to build/develop it? Will we ever get to at least see or read what they look like?

Eoghan

Aodan said:

I know you don't want to drop spoilers on engineer but lets face it, its been a long wait, and I'd like at least a really rough estimate of when it'll be out. my reasoning being, I'm bored, losing interest, and the one thing that keeps me interested is trying new professions, tinkering with them in combat. if engineer is going to be 6+ months away, I'd rather go ahead and get another profession and (hopefully) buy up lessons in the next sale for engineer.

2/3 skills are coded but untested. The third skill is designed (barring mechanical questions during implementation), but not fully implemented. No hard date, but sooner than later.

Athene said:

Eoghan said:

Athene said:

Speaking of that, will we ever possibly get expansions or trips into Horde home territory, Shadow of Mordor style?

Never say never, but probably never.

Is that because of in-game reasons or just no incentive to build/develop it? Will we ever get to at least see or read what they look like?

A little of column A, bit of column B. There are lore reasons for it being inaccessible, as well as practical reasons. Building out the areas would be time consuming, for example. Over time we have (and will in the future continue to have) events and other things in the west that tease information about the horde and their culture, but I don't think that directly exploring their territory will happen any time soon.

Galt

I second the thing about customisation tokens. Those, at least, should always be available!

Is there a rough idea for how much of the continent we've explored? I've often wondered if the non-horde races occupy just a small part of the continent, or the bulk of it.

Similarly, would there be any other pockets of resistance against the horde? Like another civilisation living far past the eastern horde, perhaps. I recall it was mentioned that the horde have slave races we don't see anymore, though that might have just been something to do with the Ryadai/Xiur event.

Eoghan

Galt said:

I second the thing about customisation tokens. Those, at least, should always be available!

Is there a rough idea for how much of the continent we've explored? I've often wondered if the non-horde races occupy just a small part of the continent, or the bulk of it.

Similarly, would there be any other pockets of resistance against the horde? Like another civilisation living far past the eastern horde, perhaps. I recall it was mentioned that the horde have slave races we don't see anymore, though that might have just been something to do with the Ryadai/Xiur event.

RE: customization tokens - there is always the option to customize with credits, so I'm not going to come close to promising those will always be available (even if house and shop tokens are, which I also won't promise).

RE: continent exploration and other races - I can't answer that question effectively. The allusion to other races was specifically regarding the Ryadai/Xiur event, but I don't personally have answers for the rest of the continent.

Athene

With the Gods gone, what's the lore explanation for stuff like Devotion working? Is it just a matter of harnessing the leftover energy left behind? Is there really that much of a divide between the "free Diachaim" and magick now?

Jeremy Saunders

Galt said:

Is there a rough idea for how much of the continent we've explored? I've often wondered if the non-horde races occupy just a small part of the continent, or the bulk of it.

Similarly, would there be any other pockets of resistance against the horde? Like another civilisation living far past the eastern horde, perhaps. I recall it was mentioned that the horde have slave races we don't see anymore, though that might have just been something to do with the Ryadai/Xiur event.

I would say about 1/4 of it, I have an idea of stuff further east then the horde. Also, more to the south.

That said, I doubt we will expand into those areas. It is just stuff that has been floating in my head from the beginning of Imperian. There are always more ideas then we could ever do.

We do have some ideas for additional races that fight the horde and are probably antagonistic to player races as well. We may do something with that at some point.

Eoghan

Athene said:

With the Gods gone, what's the lore explanation for stuff like Devotion working? Is it just a matter of harnessing the leftover energy left behind? Is there really that much of a divide between the "free Diachaim" and magick now?

The power was inside you all along! (Sort of)

The following is not the definitive lore answer to your question, but is based on conversations @Jeremy Saunders and I have had. (Also remember that anything learned on the forums is inherently OOC!)

Things like Devotion are tied to pure Diachaim, and its presence on Aetherius. Prior to the Breaking, it pooled on the Moon, which acted as a sort of funnel/focusing point. After the Breaking (which produced Shattered or Broken Diachaim, which is used by Magick), it continued to move and pool around the Moons, but also flowed more freely to Aetherius.

The direct use of Diachaim is beyond mortal reckoning, but it was used freely by the Gods (who were given the ability to do so when created by Avasyu). The Gods, in turn, manipulated it and helped in its use, but in so doing also restricted its availability (either deliberately or through the nature of their interaction with it). With the Gods dead, the Diachaim is now more free, and can be (slightly) more easily acted on. The skills of Devotion (and similar) are not tied specifically to Gods, but are tied to the power of Gods. A connection to a specific deity makes this easier, but it has always been possible (even when Gods existed) to use the skills without an Order or the blessing of a particular Divine.

This rambled a bit, and it's missing some important details, but it gives a general idea. Hope it helps.

Athene

Right now, the Undead faction and the Legion in the Underworld just seem to be... cannon fodder. The Horde definitely seems to be the coolest faction to expand on. Even if it were just something like a boss raid where you went into an instanced portion of Horde territory and set up base camp to kill a warlord and maybe free some slaves or something as a side quest, that'd be pretty fun.

Anette

Athene said:

Right now, the Undead faction and the Legion in the Underworld just seem to be... cannon fodder. The Horde definitely seems to be the coolest faction to expand on. Even if it were just something like a boss raid where you went into an instanced portion of Horde territory and set up base camp to kill a warlord and maybe free some slaves or something as a side quest, that'd be pretty fun.

I feel like the undead faction(s) have a lot of potential that hasn't been expanded on and could really be a lot more interesting, but OTOH I also feel that the reason they haven't done too much with it is that we don't need to be Aetolia 2.0  There's plenty of ways to spin it with a different take than Aetolia's though.

Athene

@Eoghan - So the main contention point between "pure" Diachaim and "broken" Diachaim is that the broken stuff is traditionally viewed as impure/tainted, then? Is there a source for magick like the moons are for Diachaim or does it just 'exist' like somebody peed in the pool?

Eoghan

Athene said:

Right now, the Undead faction and the Legion in the Underworld just seem to be... cannon fodder. The Horde definitely seems to be the coolest faction to expand on. Even if it were just something like a boss raid where you went into an instanced portion of Horde territory and set up base camp to kill a warlord and maybe free some slaves or something as a side quest, that'd be pretty fun.

Player opinion of different factions goes through interesting ebb and flow. A year ago (or maybe two) players were tired of horde and wanted to know more about the Undead (and the concept of Legion as a protogod was a cool storyline to pursue). Right now, the opposite is true.

Overall, I love all of our "big bads" and can see storylines for each of them. It's a matter of what and how we decide to progress them.

The only one not likely to have a major story in the future are Demon Lords, since the Hammer has made it impossible for them to enter the Physical Realm unaided (and for very powerful ones to enter at all). That doesn't exclude them from storylines completely, though.

Galt

Knowing that our mortal characters have only seen 1/4 or less of the continent is kind of awesome and crazy all at once.

Will the game continue to expand geographically? Seeing more of the world has always interested me as a player, and one of my favourite happenings in Imperian was when we got Ik'taru expanse, Winde scrublands and the other west-of-Aerish areas added! 

Anette

Actually my comment about the undead faction makes me wonder if there actually is any Vampire lore, @Eoghan ?  I actually intentionally looked this time last year since I decided to take the vampire halloween promo items and run with it and be like 'yep Anette's a vampire now' but while I found a few mobs that are described as such but not much established lore (probably because of the aforementioned Aetolia thing)

Eoghan

Athene said:

@Eoghan - So the main contention point between "pure" Diachaim and "broken" Diachaim is that the broken stuff is traditionally viewed as impure/tainted, then? Is there a source for magick like the moons are for Diachaim or does it just 'exist' like somebody peed in the pool?

There's more to it than that. The energies are opposed, in a manner of speaking, leading to things like layline and area affinity, affinity penalties, surges, etc. "Purity" is certainly one thing that can be taken from that (and the source of a lot of older AM objections to Magick), but it isn't the only one.

As for a source of shattered diachaim - no. It's a finite resource (though not expended by use). No more Shattered Diachaim is being created. It is drawn to Aetherius and collects there, but there isn't some font of it somewhere.

Eoghan

Trying to keep up with all your questions, but they're coming in quick now! Bear with me!

Athene

Don't get me wrong, I like the undead, but they just don't seem very "present" as a faction. You've got Lhortae and Silantor and it seems like... well, that's that. They don't really seem to present a significant and persistent threat like the all-consuming Legion of the Underworld or the innumerable Horde from across the mountains.

I'm personally more of a fan of "the risen dead" than "the army of greenskins"  thematically, but right now the latter has a lot more lore development.

Sarrius

I kinda feel like the Horde is old hat. As well, I also feel that the outer world stuff alluded to by Eloweth/Legion memories, the Rashirmir, and the Spirit Realm's possible inhabitants are the real future for Imperian's narrative. That's probably a minority opinion, but it prefaces my question with a bit of context for you.

If enough players made a genuine effort IC (say, on the unification level of when the gods were dying) to gather and strike out for an expedition to strike the Horde where it truly, truly hurts would you take this as a prompt to do something with?

Will you be pursuing the above mentioned non-Horde topics more? It feels like that is the way the game is turning, tbh. Also, what stops these extraplanar/pseudo divine antagonists from doing stuff on the other 75% of Aetherius?

Is the reason we'll never expand to that eastern area, etc that the game world is fairly big as is?

Will we ever get anymore lore on the Plagues? Maybe after a champion system review, I'd assume?

Have you guys ever considered hiring on or asking for a volunteer 'gamemaster'? The game is feeling especially stagnant lately and even mini arcs or someone that facilitates little RP or a 'louder' world would be nice. 

The same, as above, but for writing narrative in general? Fleshing out lore, etc? I suspect neither of these would be fruitful searches for the same reason it is sometimes difficult to find volunteers for normal​ entity positions.

Eoghan

Galt said:

Knowing that our mortal characters have only seen 1/4 or less of the continent is kind of awesome and crazy all at once.

Will the game continue to expand geographically? Seeing more of the world has always interested me as a player, and one of my favourite happenings in Imperian was when we got Ik'taru expanse, Winde scrublands and the other west-of-Aerish areas added! 

Not saying no, but not in the short term. Right now, we're largely focusing on making sure the content in the game is up to a good level (with things like quest revamps). There are also existing areas that could use more fleshing out and better lore ties. There are areas on the map that still need to be released, though (and more islands that were in planning stages but never used), as well as other areas of the continent... maybe some day!

Eoghan

Anette said:

Actually my comment about the undead faction makes me wonder if there actually is any Vampire lore, @Eoghan ?  I actually intentionally looked this time last year since I decided to take the vampire halloween promo items and run with it and be like 'yep Anette's a vampire now' but while I found a few mobs that are described as such but not much established lore (probably because of the aforementioned Aetolia thing)

No, there is no such thing as vampires in Imperian as the lore stands right now. That just isn't how undeath works here. The closest thing would be a Lich. There are some close things (like promo items), but they aren't the undead archetype of Vampire.