I'm your assistant producer. Ask me (almost) anything.

Oleis

Sakyl said:

are there plans to release some of these Albedi continent races as playable?

Historically, our decision-making about playable races has been hindered by a few heavy corporate rules. I'm not sure if those have changed, given Imperian's race-a-palooza promotion last year.

Sakyl

how about plans to expand into the Albedi continent?

Carivah

Oleis said:

Sakyl said:

are there plans to release some of these Albedi continent races as playable?

Historically, our decision-making about playable races has been hindered by a few heavy corporate rules. I'm not sure if those have changed, given Imperian's race-a-palooza promotion last year.

Was there some sort of impetus to keep most of the playable races fairly consistent along game lines? That's actually quite interesting, given things like Lusternia's basic equivalents.

Hadrak

Sakyl said:

how about plans to expand into the Albedi continent?

Soon (tm).

Zsadist

Will discount tokens ever make an appearance again in giftbags/chests? Or was that just a promotional thing for a duration of time?

Oleis

Zsadist said:

Will discount tokens ever make an appearance again in giftbags/chests? Or was that just a promotional thing for a duration of time?

Never say never.

Valingar

This might be rough for you to answer, since they do employ you, but I've been curious. Do you feel IRE lays down too heavy rules and regulations for the game? Sometimes (like your above answer about races being regulated by IRE) it sounds odd that so much control is with people completely detached from the actual Aetolian experience.

Oleis

When discussing IRE policies and decisions, I often explain my mental process along the lines of "I don't hold all the cards, so I can't be sure." That tends to guide just about everything I feel for the overall corporate culture. I've never seen an IRE decision that I just thought was completely unreasonable, and I've never been met with hostility or condescension when discussing a policy. There have been (as mentioned above with the race thing) decisions that I don't necessarily understand the reasoning behind. In general, though, I always trust that there IS a reason.

Overall, we're given relatively broad autonomy. There are certain things that MUST be consistent for the company to function, and a few other things that are simply by choice of Matt and Jeremy, but we're given lots of latitude to handle customer service problems and @Razmael pretty much has free reign when it comes to story and mechanic design. Freedom is a large part of what makes this job worthwhile.

Mael

Zsadist said:

Will discount tokens ever make an appearance again in giftbags/chests? Or was that just a promotional thing for a duration of time?

I had gotten a discount voucher for 25 cr a few days ago in a Cryptic Chest @Zsadist not sure if those are what you're referring to.

Moirean

No he means the 33% off ones.

Pypo

Four things have been bothering me with the impending change to the albedi continent.

First, all of the guilds and classes are based loosely around the gods that exist within the lands we have lived all our lives within. Will there be changes to guild skill sets, or the option of changing/switching skill sets to learn more in a increasingly technology-themed future?

Second, with the theme of the shadow mother creeping slowly in like a wort on the nose of a wicked witch. What will or can be done to upset the balance or 'tweak' the current gods active in the basin?

Third, we always ask stuff from YOU guys, but I have been wondering. What do or would the devs' like to see happen with the players currently adapting or handling all these (who bloody knows when) changes?

OH! An I forgot to ask! The madness mechanic, will any other class other then shape shifters be able to 'harness' the power and channel madness? ((I'm sure there are other continents dealing with shape shifters learning and adapting to it))

Oleis

These are all very good questions, but I think they rely on a few premises and assumptions that don't actually pan out in our plans in Albedos. Some broad stroke answers for you:

• We may use the new continent's technology and folklore on a thematic level (and already have in Manipulation to some extent, as you'll see), but we're not likely to dramatically change existing classes to suit the Albedi aesthetic. Integration of cultures in that way takes centuries, and there's no guarantee that process will even begin.
  
• If I'm not entirely sure what you're asking in question 2, that's okay, because any answer will be spoilery beyond belief. I'm going to give the answer that my tenure on Imperian taught me is crucial: we're not going to straight up kill all the Gods. Conversely, no gods are safe.
  
• This makes me sound pompous, but it's also true: We kind of get whatever we want with Albedos, or at least @Razmael does. He's the man in charge, after all.
  
• The idea of an Albedi shapeshifter is not out of the realm of possibility, though not exactly supported by our current Sapient lore. That said, from a mechanical level, 'madness' is a class-based resource just like Vampire blood or Carnifex Soul. It'll just be for Shapeshifters.
  

Hadley

Apologies if this has been asked already, but what is the process in developing things like events or areas? For instance, is it collaborative where everyone pitches in with ideas?

Pypo

Thanks for the responses @Oleis its really interesting and obviously I wanted to make sure since a lot of things are still up in the air.

As for Q#2 you basically were spot on with the answer, I simply was wondering if her influence will slowly be building up in the lands? Everything we have seen about her has been passive or book reading...subtle things. Will she begin to have a more active approach on our continent....maybe even a return of invaders proclaiming her name?

Maybe I'm reading too much into the whole event where ssysin were consistently checking for PC's having a proclaimed disease, I'm very excited for the future to come! Also, would it be possible for Horsemanship to be given a 'taming' skill? There's a rather deranged twisted chicken inside of Fenguard that reminds me of a chocobo, but with a spiked tail in its description I'd make my mount in an instant!

Zsadist

Something I was thinking about earlier, with how rare giftbags are seen and everything.... has there been any talk about giftbags being thrown in with the Elite Membership? Like, something along the lines of 1 or 2 giftbags when your membership renews?

Rashar

Yeah, so people can be like, "What? My free giftbag that I got as a bonus to my Iron Membership only had a STUPID ENCEPHALITIS CRYSTAL IN IT."

Zsadist

People do that regardless of whether or not they were able to get a free giftbag for recurring membership bonus. Thats just people being self-centered whinebags and not appreciating that they just got something for free. However, it still wouldn't necessarily hurt/break anything, and in the off chance you got something good (ie chocolates, keyring, custom certs, language tokens, etc) then hey, good on you. But even with an encephalous crystal, thats still an addition 3 cr iirc or an immediate class change for those with multiple classes but no polymath arti.

Aishia

I like how me calling it encephalitis crystal caught on.

Oleis

To be honest, Iron Elite is a veeeeery good value as it is. As an IE subscriber on another game, I'm certainly not afraid to admit I like free stuff, but I don't think we could reasonably argue a need to increase the value of our own.

Ishin

So like, when can we look forward to more storyline progression? I think Juxa was really the last big thing that happened, and that led into the Big Guy bitchslapping all the Gods and being like *peaceouttoAlbedosorAlbediPools*

When will we see more along those lines, or really, along any lines?

Areka

Soon. (tm)

Toz

Ishin said:

So like, when can we look forward to more storyline progression? I think Juxa was really the last big thing that happened, and that led into the Big Guy bitchslapping all the Gods and being like *peaceouttoAlbedosorAlbediPools*

When will we see more along those lines, or really, along any lines?

He's standing right behind you, right now. Good luck!

Draiman

Ishin said:

So like, when can we look forward to more storyline progression? I think Juxa was really the last big thing that happened, and that led into the Big Guy bitchslapping all the Gods and being like *peaceouttoAlbedosorAlbediPools*

When will we see more along those lines, or really, along any lines?

This. Kinda. I remember way back in the day Caboose and Van and Alaron etc were always stirring up trouble of some kind. I don't know if they were at the head of it with admin support or if it was the admin's idea and they just played the roles.

Is it lack of players trying to do something or lack of divine support right now that's causing Aetolia to seem so....boring? I mean I know there's player vs. player conflict out there but I'm much more into the "shits going down in the world" type stuff (the world tree, nachash, abbadon, etc). It doesn't need to be about Albedos or Albedi gods to feel big and let everyone participate.

Sakyl

at this moment, I'm transcendant in 2 guild skills, but I am Guild Rank 2, would I lose my class if were to quit my guild, even though I am considered a "master" able to apprentice another in the skill?

Areka

Yes, you would lose the skills.

Zsadist

A couple questions:

1) How does the BUG/IDEA/ISSUE system work? By that I mean, is an admin or a team of admin notified when a player submits one of these items or does it sit there without any review/notification until someone on the admin team looks at it?

2) This might be abit over your head, but still something I'm genuinely curious about. With the dwindling playerbase on some games (Imperian/Lusternia), has IRE made any talk about shutting those games down??

Malok

Zsadist said:

2) This might be abit over your head, but still something I'm genuinely curious about. With the dwindling playerbase on some games (Imperian/Lusternia), has IRE made any talk about shutting those games down??

I agree with this one. I would also be curious to see what they have plans to do. The current IRE playerbase should honestly be consolidated down into Achaea and Aetolia. Throw a bone to those of us who spent money on the other games and reimburse us in some way on Achaea or Aetolia and let both games thrive again.

Areka

Do you both really think that would be healthy for the game? For Aetolia that is, and Achaea.
1) Do you think people would come over if their game was shut down, or feel disenfranchised and just quit altogether?
2) With how much toxicity there is in those two communities in particular, do you REALLY want to invite that over here?

Toz

Like 80% of the people from Impy/Lusty I talk to mention right off the bat how nice/inclusive/not unicorns our community is in comparison. Let 'em stay waaaaaaaaaay over there plz.

Oleis

Zsadist said:

A couple questions:

1) How does the BUG/IDEA/ISSUE system work? By that I mean, is an admin or a team of admin notified when a player submits one of these items or does it sit there without any review/notification until someone on the admin team looks at it?

We all get notified and the body of the bug/idea automatically displays. This is both good and bad -- sure, we definitely acknowledge that it's happening, but with the volume of information we get through each of those mechanisms each day, it's impractical to take the time to sit and read all of them. Issues are a little more fickle. If we're waiting at all, it's for one of two reasons: Either we're waiting for the people involved to cool down, or we're waiting to investigate the details a little more before we say anything. Usually a combination of the two.

Zsadist said:

2) This might be abit over your head, but still something I'm genuinely curious about. With the dwindling playerbase on some games (Imperian/Lusternia), has IRE made any talk about shutting those games down??

Playerbase means a lot less than you think. Frankly, especially in Imperian, the online counts are doing just fine. I can't speak for Lusternia, because I genuinely don't check in there. I'm guessing they're still turning a profit each month, too. You've also got to think about cost and benefit. Shutting the games down is only practical and beneficial if they're actively losing money. With as little as it costs to keep the doors open, one would have to be absolutely insane to close them.