Following is part 2 of the community Q&A, with part 3 to follow on Monday.
For those of you that missed it, there was also a part 1 posted yesterday.
I just mainly want to know if we will have to wait weeks/months for skills to be balanced, Pulverise + Stampede combos in the current meta of everyone being warrior makes playing elementalist+primalist very hard compared to playing a warrior. This has been going on for a long time and could of received some tweaks but hasn't, why should we believe you can balance this new system in a timely fashion.
This has to do with 2 things. First, in a role based system with specific roles, relative balance is something that we always needed to keep in mind when applying tweaks. This will no longer be the case. Second, our new strategy is one of prompt reaction and communication with our community. Tweaks will happen as often and for as long as needed, based on your feedback.
Can we expect some kind of prowess planner on the website or in-game? For attributes, skills, abilities etc.
This is something we definitely want to do either as a complete system or as an API that the community can use to create applications like that. This will not be available with the custom roles patch but we want to work on it as soon as our schedule permits.
How will shields be handled? As I understand it you can assign 2 Hand weapons, 1 Hand Weapons, Staffs and Bows each to one of the 4 attributes (STR, WIS, DEX, INT). Will shields be tied to your 2 hand weapon attribute as they are right now (currently both tied to STR)? If not, then how will they be handled?
Shields are grouped together with 1 handed weapons at the moment. The other groups are 2-handed weapons, Bows together with daggers, and Magic Staves.
Will there be implementation of a backpack GUI option to view backpacks and banks as they were in Darkfall 1?
There exists a design for a grid based inventory system already. It allows for amazing ease of use and many custom ways to sort and filter items. We will be implementing it further down the line.
What will it be replaced with (wobble) and how will it affect the cone of fire mechanic we have now will that be removed/replaced as well?
The wobble mechanic is being completely removed with the custom roles patch. It was used as a balancing mechanic for particular roles, but since relative role and school balance is no longer an issue, it has no place in the game.
You also said: (All vital stat pools are being normalized with significantly more weight being placed on the base attribute instead of the booster. This ensures that all character builds start from an “equal footing”.) What does this mean for leveling base stats is it still necessary or are they all the same for all characters?
You will still level your attributes as you do now and they will provide more of a bonus to their connected pools than they do now.
Will the particle effects for spells be implemented with that patch so we don't see massive drops in frames with the massive amount of fights?
We are currently working on an improved rendering system for effects, one that addresses client performance in large scale battles. It is in testing stage at the moment , and will be deployed either with the custom roles patch or the next one.
Any plans to make theyril weapons more attractive?
We are looking into possible ways to make them more attractive.
Any plans for transfer buffs?
No plans to further buff the transfers currently.
Plans to make stam drain and vamp touch parryable?
We have this in mind at least for the vampiric strike. The stamina drain from damage has been reduced in this patch already and we will keep our eyes on it if it needs further reduction.
Will we be able to save custom builds for quicker and easier changing of 'roles'?
Yes, there are 10 blueprints you can have saved at any given time.
Will armor protections be re-adjusted??
It was not deemed necessary in this patch, but we can easily do it when it will be needed. For now, we tried to tweak and balance the skills and the new armor attributes on the existing armor protections and we did not identify any game breaking problems on our tests (limited as they were). We will have our eyes and ears open for your feedback so we can intervene promptly.
How will this system work for someone creating a new character? Do they just get a giant list of skills of which they have no idea what they do?
No, new players start with no school skills. They can purchase skills from the corresponding vendor, starting at low prowess cost.
If all armors are beneficial now are the crafting costs going to be balanced finally so that metal doesn't cost so much more than cloth?
This has to do with supply and demand. We will look into increasing the supply of iron through monster loot to adjust the price if it is needed with the new system.
Heavy Robe/Light Robes currently just have 5 slots. Are there plans to fill out the remaining 5 slots?
No but we have added 2 more ranks of robes so that they have the same number of ranks as the other armors. Have in mind that the cost and attributes of the pieces have been balanced on that number discrepancy and in the current patch we also took into consideration the helmet, shoulders mix and match system so the particular pieces are “equally” desirable on the new attribute we added.
When changing roles, will we now be able to adjust the boosters? (Current system just swaps out boosters). How will this work since it costs prowess to purchase the boosters?
As in the previous system, you have to buy the boosters only once. When you have already bought them you can use them as needed in any build.
Eventually will all armor pieces be interchangeable?
Due to technical limitations, at the moment it doesn't seem so. We have however allowed to mix and match helmet and shoulder pieces.
Will robe items be twice as good on the armor bonus since there are half the pieces of metal?"
The effectiveness of armor pieces has been adjusted taking into account the fact that the helmet and shoulder slots can be mix and matched. This is true though only for the new attribute, the protections and the crafting costs remain the same as before.
Thank you for reading and please stay tuned for part 3 on Monday.