Portal:News/IRC Transcripts/09 July 2010

IRC Chat Q&A with Cindy "Abigale" Bowens about her experiences playing the game.


 * Abigale: I thought maybe before I take questions, I should tell you a little about my play time lately. Then you can ask me questions about it :)
 * Abigale: I have actually been playing 2 characters lately
 * Abigale: I now have a lvl 21 Ranger/Blade Dancer and a lvl 18 Elementalist/warlock.
 * Abigale: I have been playing my ranger solo. And my elementalist has been grouped with my husband the whole time. So I have gotten to experience solo and group content
 * Abigale: Now a lot of you are asking on the forums about leveling speed. Let me be clear.... that has NOT been adjusted yet. This part of the play test is just to make sure everything works. So leveling speed is not even close to what it will be in the future
 * Abigale: This is why I have two characters that high in such a short amount of time :)
 * Abigale: I have not seen any end content yet. I have been playing through the test like a normal player, no god powers or anything. So I have only seen the first few zones.
 * Abigale: I have really enjoyed myself so far. The game is beautiful and plays really well. I am totally hooked. The worst part of the game is that there should be lots of other players in it. :)
 * Abigale: Ok... I know you have lots of questions. So if the admins want to start listing some, I'll answer them as best I can :)
 * Abigale: Ok, let me address the Beta question right up front. I have been in a lot of meetings lately discussing the timing. I can't give you a date yet. But we are working towards it as best we can
 * Abigale: I know you hate the word soon.... so I won't say it ;)


 * Wobbley asks: When your playing through the solo content do you find yourself using more then 3 or 4 skills? Lets say more then 40% of your combat skills, or do you quickly find yourself using those 3 or 4 "a must" skills
 * Abigale: Ok, my Ranger is my solo toon. I have been using lots of different skills with her. She starts fights with her bow and pet. But sometimes, there are mulitple mobs or | they break and run to me. Then I go after them with Melee (Blade Dancer skills). It is really fun. I have to switch back and forth with my abilities.... not just play the same thing over and over. I am loving this combination :)


 * Alaraca asks: Which races have you played and do you prefer one race to the other at this point? also do you side more with the Defiant or Guardians?
 * Abigale: I am playing an Elf Ranger and an Eth Mage. During this testing time, I have been experimenting. I played Defiant first, now I am playing Guardian. I still haven't decided which way I will go with my play character ;)


 * Kindair asks: did you change your class combination already or are these the first combinations you tried?
 * Abigale: So far I haven't changed my class combination for wither character. I don't feel I have had time to really rest out how they work yet. I only got my second soul at lvl 15. But so far I am liking both :)
 * Abigale: wither+either lol


 * Meson asks: How big are the cities?
 * Abigale: The cities are beautiful! They have a lot of character. They seem as big as most big cities you have visited in other games. I really enjoyed being at Quicksilver College after learning about Asha's time there. It's as big as a city and very charming. There are students and professors all around. I have spent lots of time exploring cities :)


 * Meson asks: Are the NPC's in cities standing around static or are they moving around giving the 'look' of an authentic city?
 * Abigale: Many of them are talking and moving around. It is definitely like being in a real city


 * Githil-FPI asks: what calling has your husband choosen?
 * Abigale: Oops... just realized my husband is playing a class we haven't released yet. He chose the warrior calling. I think we'll be releasing his class soon


 * Draegan_ asks: Describe Hedgerow Court some more please! Is that where the Elves start out?
 * Abigale: I love Hedgerow Court! It is sort of a maze with wisps and fairies. It was challenging to get through it alone. but it was so much fun. I just really likeed the atmosphere. I know I have used the word charming already but that's a good word for it. I just sort of got lost in the experience


 * squid808 asks: is this a game we can spend a few minutes or a few hours playing? Or is it always a few hours?
 * Abigale: It depends. Some quests take more time than others. I have definitely been able to log in for an hour and log back out and have had a good time. But I have also taken on a quest here and there that really kept me busy for a while. So I think it's a good balance of both


 * Kindair asks: what's your favorite rift to beat and how far did you complete one rift
 * Abigale: So far, I have only don a couple of Rifts. I solo'd my first Life Rift. But the next one I tried was a little toougher and I couldn't do it alone. I have grouped to do a Death Rift and that was a lot of fun. Much better with a group. I don't know that we have releaed info on the other type I have tried.
 * Abigale: You'll be running along to do a quest or somethign and all of a sudden you will hear one in the disctance or see one over the hill.... and then it's on ;)


 * Meson asks: How does combat feel, is it fluid with nice animations or does it feel stiff?
 * Abigale: Combat is really cool. There are several animations and sounds during fighting. It seems pretty realistic to me
 * Abigale: There are a lot of cool animations throughout the game....
 * Abigale: I was fighting spiders in a wooded area the other night.... and a spider dropped down from a tree on a web! I had to do a double take on that one! :)


 * MaxxyHD asks: Abi, are we going to be getting some info on crafting soon?
 * Abigale: I know a lot of you are anxious to hear about crafting. They are still working out some final details about it before we can talk about it. Again, this play test has a lot to do with finalizing systems and such. So they won't release info on it until it is set in stone, so to speak. We don't want to give you info and have to come back in a couple of weeks and change it


 * Dress asks: Have you had any "duels" with other players, and how did this turn out? Was it fun, challenging and what you'd might expect
 * Abigale: I'm really sorry to disappoint you PVPer's out there. But I am not much into PVP. So I haven't done any of that yet. But we have a number of people here who are very into PVP and they are overseeing that. Perhaps one day I can get a PVP guy in here to talk about that. It's just not really my thing. Sorry :(


 * Meson asks: Do you find yourself get lost in the game and losing track of time?
 * Abigale: Absolutely! I sit down some nights intending to play an hour and 3 hours later, I am late for bed! I love it.... but it IS costing me my sleep ;)


 * squid808 asks: How do you feel the game will work once there are thousands of players in the worlds?
 * Abigale: I can't wait for that! It's kind of like visiting an empty amusement park right now. You look around and see all the fun to be had but no people! I can't wait until there are more of us! I was in a place called Overwatch Keep for a couple of nights. It's kind of like an outdoor dungeon. It was REALLY tough to solo and I kept wishing there were more people around for it. It's going to be a lot of fun when we are all in there playing :)


 * Ciovala asks: Have you come across any spots in your travels that just made you pause and go, "Wow." ?
 * Abigale: YES! Several times. When I visited cities and towns, especially (I have always enjoyed exploring cities in MMOs). Lst night I was in a place called Gloamwood Pines. It was so cool! The buildings and streets were beautiful. And there were some very interesting things happening to the citizens of that town. I won't spoil it for you. But it was really a fun place to visit ;)


 * Draegan_ asks: How long did it take to kill the wisps and faeries? Can you describe how fast paced the battles are as a Ranger? Did you have to use melee abilities at all?
 * Abigale: When I was killing the wisps and fairies, I didn't have my second soul yet. So I mostly used ranged and pet attacks. The battles were pretty normal as far as time and effort. One mob was not too hard and I could take it pretty easily. 2 mobs were tougher but I could usually manage if nothing went wrong. 3 mobs, it was probably time to think about running. I was about to get my but handed to me. I am very happy with the length of the fights and the difficulty of


 * Meson asks: Is the music ingame and if so is it epic giving a great atmosphere?
 * Abigale: Some of the music is in game but I don't know that all of it is. I know the battle music is in and that's pretty cool :)


 * Meson asks: Do rifts form in areas that have no players in?
 * Abigale: I think so. I'm not sure on that but it seems that way. I have seen rifts over a hill and ran to get there and there was no one else around. But I am not sure if that will stay that way or not. Good question. I'll have to ask someone about that :)


 * Abigale: Well, folks. That's all the time I have today. I have meetings to attend. I go to a lot of meetings. Which makes me very happy. That means there are a lot of people around here who are interested in the community and your feedback. :)
 * Abigale: I wish I had more time for more questions. But I'll be happy to do this again some time if there is interest. And I hope the answers I was able to give were interesting to you :)
 * Abigale: As for next week.... I'm not sure yet. I'll have to scout around and see if anyone can stop in to visit us. :)
 * Abigale: Thank you all for being here. I'll see ya on the forums! :)

Original logs on ReplayIRC: here.