Interview! VGNecro vs. Avair, Round two!

submitted by lifebane on Sep 10th, 2007

VGNECRO EXCLUSIVE! FUN FUN!

Vgnecro.com, after some technical difficulties which I somehow blame on Cylus, was able to get Avair (aka Michael Mann, SOE ) to go for another round of necro specific questions that the necro community was wanting more info on. It was great being able to get some responses and to have been reassured that there is some needed attention coming on the Horizon.

On with the interview!


Hello Avair / Mike,

I first wanted to thank you for taking the time once again vgnecro.com’s community. It's been some months since we formally chatted and it seems as though much has changed in the World of Telon during that time frame. One thing that hasn't changed though is the annoyingly inquisitive nature of the necro community. We want answers and infoz now... well or at least as soon as possible hehe. So before the crazed undead horde storms this interview, lets get on with the good stuff!

Question # 1:
vgnecro.com: Chunking and pathing issues seem to be the bane of a Necromancer’s existence! It’s especially difficult during PvP when pets can be lost while chunking, in the face of enemies. Is there any good news on the horizon in regards to pathing, chunking, and elevation?

Avair: Chunking issues is something we are always looking in to. This is also one of our top priorities for Necromancers.

Question # 2:
vgnecro.com: The new Graft types are a hit! Hearts, Brains, Faces, and Souls have created a Necromancer graft-hunting frenzy! So much in fact, that it feels like we may not have enough slots for all these various types of grafts. Will we possibly see more slots added in the future?

Avair: There is a possibility of us allowing players to use all grafts at one time. We are discussing it currently and will let your class lead know when we have reached a final decision.

Question # 3:
vgnecro.com: While on the subject of grafts, it couldn’t hurt to have a more detailed description in the tool tip! Recent changes have made some improvement, but ones that have a clickable attack ability are still a mystery. Is there a chance we'll see more updates with the tool tips and descriptions?

Avair: If there is a graft without a clear description or a buggy description, please report the graft through your normal means of bug reporting and if at all possible, report it to your class lead as well. These will get taken care of as we receive them.

Question # 4:
vgnecro.com: You guys did an excellent job with the lich form models. Is there any chance the wraith form will receive a revamp to bring it up to par? I think it would be great if wraiths were transparent looking ghosts, that could perhaps float around rather than waking on air. Even better would be a revamped wraith form which would vary based on level would be perfect! Is there any chance of this happening?

Avair: There is always a chance that the wraith form will get updated and adjusted. Currently we are focusing our attention on other areas though.

Question # 5:
vgnecro.com: Also, for the sake of these same wraiths and the Deathwalk recipients out there, when might the z axis collision problems get fixed; the inability to climb up a 1" tall step while levitating really puts a damper on things.

Avair: This is a problem that has been with us for a long time. It is on our list and will get fixed in time.

Question # 6:
vgnecro.com: Necromancer minions can be very useful when used under the right conditions. They should be used by any intelligent Necromancer as part of their overall effectiveness. The problem is that as they are now, one low level AE ability will kill them with one hit. Having our minions vaporized with the slightest AE spell or damage shield reduces a necromancers dps considerably depending on which minions they have out. Any insight on what can or will be done with minions in the near future or are they meant to be that "squishy"?

Avair: They are meant to be squishy, but not that squishy. They should be able to withstand a few hits but not be able to tank. This is a relatively easy fix, but also requires feedback and additional tweaking. Improvements have been made and should be available with Game Update 3.

Question # 7:
vgnecro.com: Necromancers in Vanguard are obviously more unique than many other MMO’s out there. The grafting system, as well as their thought-out dark nature truly sets them apart. Still, reaching level 50 it feels as though there’s room to expand the Necromancer class, to make it even more unique amongst the other classes. Are there any plans to add more diversity to Necromancers?

Avair: There are plans to expand the class post 50 in expansions and with the help of new systems in the future. I can’t elaborate at this time, but the answer is yes.

Question # 8:
vgnecro.com: There is a joke amongst the Necro community regarding the higher level content and quests being written by "little johnny grindpants", basically implying that the current trend is that good quests and content all have as a requirement that you grind ridiculous amounts of faction or kill ridiculous amounts of some creature to progress. While nothing good is ever easy, there must be better ways to implement these quests. Can we expect to see a variance in quests in the future?

Avair: Yes, there will be a large variety of quests added to the game as we continue to flesh out the world as well as add raiding and the quests associated with them.

Question # 9:
vgnecro.com: The necromancers on the PvP servers have been patiently waiting for some tweak to fear or some alternative type of defensive ability. There are plenty of ideas floating around about how to improve it: Treat Fear as a Mez? An Interrupt perhaps? A root spell? A short duration diminishing returns fear? Are any of these feasible?

Avair: We have gone through a few ideas for PVP fear. This will be addressed as we adjust PVP balancing (which is going on right now). We have discussed using many of the options you present, currently we would like to keep it real and use the fear effect, but with a diminished effectiveness.

Question # 10:
vgnecro.com: Necromancers have been eager to have more control and a better understanding of their pet since the beginning. Is there any word on a redesigned pet window that would show buffs, stats, health, etc.? This information would be of great importance to Necromancer pet management.

Avair: There has been talk of changing the abomination window to make more sense. There has also been talk of getting a character screen for the abomination so that you can view his stats and gear. This is in the works, but there is no timeline set for it.

Question # 11:
vgnecro.com: Right now it is detrimental for more than one Necromancer to be in a group based on corpse necessity for some of our abilities. The fact that corpses can only be used by one Necromancer is a fairly hefty deterrent to having more than one Necro in a group. Is this something that we can expect to see change in the future or is it written in stone at this point?

Avair: This is pretty much how it works. We do not plan on changing this mechanic. The balance of the abilities depends on corpses being a finite resource.

Question # 12:
vgnecro.com: Our Ghostly acolyte minions ( the ones that increase hp / mana periodically ) only currently do so when someone is at 50% or less and then the amount is too small to be noticed. As I understand it the amount was "good" for the smaller mana pools back in beta for example but they did not scale up when the casters had their mana pools increased shortly before final release. Is this something that could be revisited to see if the minion’s usefulness is what it was intended to be, as it stands now one rarely sees these pets ever summoned due to their ineffectiveness?

Avair: We are aware of this issue and it is something we can adjust fairly easily. It will be looked into when we make class adjustments.

Question # 13:
vgnecro.com: The Plague bearer minion's ability doesn't function properly with soul blight already active on mobs, the two buffs conflict. To add to the trouble, Soul Blight itself also has stacking issues with itself. If a mob is already debuffed with Soul Blight and you recast it, it cancels the original buff rather than extend the length of the effect. Same if two Necros cast it on the same mob. Are there any fixes planned for this in the near future?

Avair: There are currently many stacking issues that we are adjusting and balancing as we do raid content and general balance. This will be addressed in a pass soon.

And no correspondence between us could be complete without the annoying Lifebane reminder to check in on the Bug-O-Matic frequently. There are plenty other issues there that could use some dev attention but were not included in this brief interview.

Thanks again for your time and for your willingness to answer some of our concerns Mike. We will be eagerly awaiting your future updates!

VGNecro Forum Thread regarding the interview can be found here

Lifebane
VGNecro.com

Comments (2)