Ben Skelly answers for EQ2 Traders Corner #2

[Ngreth Thergn]

Ben Skelly answered more questions for us! :)

Will players be able to complete the "Citizenship" and "Betrayal" quests without Adventurer skills beyond what is required to get off of the Isle of Refuge? Will they be able to do it solo? or in a group? or not at all?

The Citizenship and Betrayal quests are aspects of your adventuring role, so their completion requires you to advance that facet of your character. If you choose not to undertake these quests, you can continue to craft and sell items in your home village or district.

Do player stats have any effect on tradeskills?

Player stats don't have any impact on the tradeskill process. We want there to be a distinction between your adventuring level and tradeskill level. Any aspect of crafting that involves health or power will be percentage based so the impact is the same whether you are a level 3 mage or a level 50 guardian.

Just to be clear on the interdependence. It is clear to us that "best" items will require interdependence. Will it be POSSIBLE (even if not desirable) for a player to skill up artisan from 1 to 50 without ever interacting with another Player Character, if they so wish. I am not asking this because it is a likely play style people want, but the players are afraid that gaining skills and experience will be halted if one cannot find another player to make sub-parts in a cross class.

If you join a tradeskill social structure you'll be able to buy basic components that allow you to craft goods of common quality. But to make the best items you must interact with other players to obtain rare components.

Will there be tradeskill "tools" like sewing needles, smithy hammers, jewelers glass, or other such tools? If so will they be reusable or one shot? Can they be added to a "tool belt" to save space? And would these tools "decay"?

Currently there aren't any tools that affect the tradeskill process. It is something that we are keeping in mind for the future.

Will there be any "portable" devices like sewing kits for looms, or will there only be the world devices?

When making items, all interaction will be done with world devices. There may be some world devices given as rewards that you can place in your home or apartment.

Will there be any real incentive for a 'pure' tradeskiller to ever leave the city? If tradeskill items are transferable, and resource nodes harvestable by adventurers, is there any content for an artisan outside the city walls?

For launch all tradeskilling will be done within the city.

Will there be tradeskill loot? Magical sewing needles with bonuses?
Smithing Hammers of Truestriking? Etc. Etc. Or does the 'its better to create and give then to receive' idea hold true for us.

At present there are no plans for this kind of loot. Artisans are about developing a reputation and a big bank account, not being known for the items they wear. Again, this is something we may change in the future.

Thank you Ben!

[Homeslice513]

Great job there Ngreth.

Some of their answers seemed to be kind of vague and the last answer I don't think is totally true. I worry about my style more than my bank account or being known for crafting anything. Guess I am just a social crafter :)

[Grei]

How humble, Homeslice. :)

Well, guess these answers mean that I'm going to have to work on adventuring even more than I planned on, if only to get the citizenship quest out of the way. Of course it makes no sense to have Artisans be entirely in the city and make it so they can't even gain access to the core city without being an Adventurer, who aren't city based.

And it looks like they've shifted away from letting us set up shop in our homes as easily as was mentioned before. Still, the rewards thing should help keep the at-home shops to dedicated Artisans and their friends.

No worrying about stats or pools...that's a good thing. A shame about there being no tradeskill loot in the world though--would've been nice to have a Mantle of Smithing drop that gave a small bonus at the forge and looked sharp to boot. Guess I'll have to make one or have someone make me one. ;)

Grei

[Hobbun]

I'm a bit disappointed hearing about no tradeskill loot for release. Like Homeslice, I am just as concerned about my style than bank account.

I liked the Grandmaster items you could make in EQ and really hope they implement something similar eventually for EQ2.

[Kesiax]

How humble, Homeslice. :)
Well, guess these answers mean that I'm going to have to work on adventuring even more than I planned on, if only to get the citizenship quest out of the way. Of course it makes no sense to have Artisans be entirely in the city and make it so they can't even gain access to the core city without being an Adventurer, who aren't city based.
Grei

Well, as far as I've read (beta journals), the citizenship quest hasn't sounded that difficult. I might be wrong, of course, but I don't think it will take that much more effort to do. And I think it does make a little sense to have Artisans do the quest. Heck, even a lot of web sites require you to register (do the quest) in order to post (gain benifits of the society). Of course, YMMV.

Kesiax,
Halfling Scout

[Homeslice513]

I believe it was Faarwolf that said she had a character that got to level 6 to be in the city and then she didn't have to do anything else adventure style to keep on crafting. That isn't too bad for me and I don't have to worry about a betrayal quest but would be nice if artisans could do it.

You can't base a game off of real life but when people leave there countries to join another, even looking back to the cold war times, a lot of times it was the artists and skillsmen that we accepted easier, not the soldiers and such. But this is a game and guess they still look at it as we throw some crafting in there and we get more people that want to do more than just kill things. So a larger consumer base.

[Moonshade]

Notice that Ben said you can craft in your village, so you don't really need to be a citizen of your city to craft and sell. I'm sure you'd be missing out on things if you're not a citizen however.

[Grei]

Notice that Ben said you can craft in your village, so you don't really need to be a citizen of your city to craft and sell. I'm sure you'd be missing out on things if you're not a citizen however.
The way I'm guessing things will go is that the highest level Adventurers and guilds are going to be in the City Core. So if we're going to want to craft the most elite equipment possible, we will need to at least have access to where they are, if only to be able to get resources easier.

Frankly though, I plan on staying in Willow Wood or Baubbleshire (yeah, yeah, I'm still undecided) and having fun and enjoying the scenery. But I will probably do the citizenship quest to ensure that I can get access to where the better resources are likely to be.

Grei

[Bawang]

Was that interview conducted in Dodge city? it seems the closer we get to release the more tight lipped the developers become.

[Kesiax]

Well, here's a deal, Homeslice: When the game goes live, drop us all a line as to what server you're on, and I'll make a char specifically to help out with your citizen quest =)

Kesiax
Halfling Scout

[Kragmire]

When I hear that all trade-skilling will be via world devices, I have nightmares of the pottery wheel in Thurgadin :) I hope that device use will be unlimited and there won't be any "that device is currently in use" messages.

If stats won't impact trade-skilling, and health and power are fixed percentages, I am curious about the depth of variability in skills. Will any other trade-skilling factors improve other than success rate?

[Moonshade]

Did I read something about workshops being instanced? If so, no prob with tools being in use.

[CMC]

Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but it worries me that we would only be able to develop items of "common" quality without obtaining "rare" items that will only be available from adventurers who are most likely in uber guilds and tackling the biggest mobs. That sounds like we would also have to be in those guilds, otherwise how would we progress to the level of expertise necessary to make exceptionally high quality items. Did I misunderstand this?

If this is true, that blows the possibility of being purely an artisan focused on our craft. I was hoping that was going to be possible.

[Ngreth Thergn]

Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but it worries me that we would only be able to develop items of "common" quality without obtaining "rare" items that will only be available from adventurers who are most likely in uber guilds and tackling the biggest mobs. That sounds like we would also have to be in those guilds, otherwise how would we progress to the level of expertise necessary to make exceptionally high quality items. Did I misunderstand this?

If this is true, that blows the possibility of being purely an artisan focused on our craft. I was hoping that was going to be possible.

No, he was saying you can get your SKILLS up without those rare drops. It is just that you cannot actually MAKE the rare/higher end stuff without the rare drops. So your skills will be fine without the rares... it is just the items you can make are narower, and not as good without the rares.

[Hobbun]

Did I read something about workshops being instanced? If so, no prob with tools being in use.

From what I had heard, the world devices will not be instanced except the ones on the Isle of Refuge.

Once you get to the mainland, they will not be instanced, but for the areas they are in the city they will all be together. And also from what I heard, there will sometimes be multiples of each one.

I thought I remember Moorgard saying the inn you start in with your instanced house has world devices in the lobby area or a room near it. I could be wrong though.

[HeartFang]

If I remember correctly, the world devices will be instanced or the room where the world devices are. You can invite people into the same instanced room with you.

Not sure If I am remembering correctly, been a long time since I was avidly reading the main site.

[CMC]

Thanks for the clarification Ngreth! That is a little better than I thought, but it sounds like we will have to have some sort of alliance with groups to make the really good stuff. Maybe with most of the content based on 6 person groups though, things may not be so totally raid dependent in the high end game like we experienced in EQLive. I'll keep my fingers crossed. :D

[Flendon]

Great job with the questions Ngreth. Too bad he was still vague on a few of them.
Artisans are about developing a reputation and a big bank account
This gives me renewed hope that I will be able to survive off my tradeskilling. :cool:

[Homeslice513]

Great job with the questions Ngreth. Too bad he was still vague on a few of them.

This gives me renewed hope that I will be able to survive off my tradeskilling. :cool:

Yeah it does seem they are still about us making the moneys :)

[Ketic]

Great questions, and no matter how vague some of the answers were, that little bit of info you can suck out of em is worth it.

The more I hear about tradeskills, the more excited I get about it. I think it's going to be a lot of fun.

[Ngreth Thergn]

I believe it was Faarwolf that said she had a character that got to level 6 to be in the city and then she didn't have to do anything else adventure style to keep on crafting. That isn't too bad for me and I don't have to worry about a betrayal quest but would be nice if artisans could do it.

You can't base a game off of real life but when people leave there countries to join another, even looking back to the cold war times, a lot of times it was the artists and skillsmen that we accepted easier, not the soldiers and such. But this is a game and guess they still look at it as we throw some crafting in there and we get more people that want to do more than just kill things. So a larger consumer base.

And man... the Betrayal quest is DIFICULT! let me tell you... wow... It took about 12 hours of playtime to do it, and I could only have shaved maybe 1-2 hours off if I knew where certain mobs were... so it could be done in one marathon session... IF you have help (solo will take longer)

[devotio]

:confused:

How does one start the betrayal quest? Say, I am from Qeynos and betraying Qeynos to join Freeport... How would I be able to start it? Thanks in advance.

-Devotio/Damiana/Xilqa of Antonia Bayle

kernunnos8888@hotmail.com

[Ngreth Thergn]

Um... some guy in... South qeynos I think (may be north qeynos), upstairs in a "balcony" with light from an open triangular window pointing in.

You must be at least 10... though I advise being no less than 15. You MUST be less than 18, if you are 18 you will not be able to betray.

You will be level capped at 17 until you are done, and will not be able to tradeskill.