[Ennewi]

Different source altogether but most, if not all, of those IRC conversations can actually be found in the link below. These were some of the other/extended beta answers from McQuaid, as well as Trost...

https://web.archive.org/web/19990209...splace.com/eq/

Brad McQuaid

Q: <EQVBrd> Will the player who makes the deathkill on a monster or opponent get first pick of the loot?
A: <Aradune> Yes.

Q: <EQV-Qs> In many diffrent pages including eq's home page it has been noted how dark elves are great for seeing at night. How much of a diffrence will this make like will their accuracy be better, range or anything? also will they be punished by haveing a weaknees during the day.
A: <Aradune> Dark Elves see the best at night, followed by some of the other races that have infravision. So far in playing the game, having these abilities is very, very handy. As for dark elves being penalized for being in the day outside -- they aren't at this point, but it's something we are keeping in mind if we need to counterbalance them as a race

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Q: <EQV-Qs> I heard, somewhere down the line, that there was going to be a PvP server. I also heard that you have an overwhelmingly large budget to work on so, will you also be implementing a Role-Playing server or two?

A: <Aradune> No, all servers will be the same. Both +pvp and -pvp players will co-exist, and this is on purpose -- we feel keeping people together so they can talk, interact, trade, etc. is important, regardless of whether they are +pvp or -pvp. As for roleplaying servers, until the world agrees upon what rping exactly means, we really don't think that would be realistic

Q: <Relay_1> [Kenickie- ) Will the world of norrath be round? Also, on a related note, will the time of day be relative to where you are in the world whether it is round or flat?
A: <Aradune> Whether or not the world is flat or round won't be detectable at first, in that we're starting with one hemisphere... so also then is time of day constant.

Q: <Relay_1> [CTidwell ) Can the phase of the moon be determined within the game (assuming there are moon(s))
A: <Aradune> There is indeed a moon -- we are tossing around the idea of having more than one -- as for phases, though, not at this time.

Q: <Relay_2> <Arr> What causes a person to turn int a werewolf, and what happens to the player after the transformation?
A: <Aradune> It's a curse... and I can't go into details, other than to say that when you target a player or NPC while under that curse, instead of revealing its name (as is usual), it says 'meat' [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

<Relay_1> Thanks Everyone for coming out.. I think brad has something to say about beta?
<Aradune> Yep, I have a few announcements about the closed beta, where its at, and such. We decided a while back to have a Phase .5 of sorts, involving approximately 40 people, and this phase has been going on since right after E3. It's going great, and while that phase has been underway, we've been calling people about phase one, and sending out NDAs. We have well over 200 NDAs out now, and will be sending probably 100 or so more out for phase one. The plan is to have, as stated before, about 100 or so people online at any given time. Phase two will begin after we are happy with the way the game is progressing under phase one. With phase two, which will still be under NDA, we will increase the number of people such that we have approx. 500 people playing at any given time.

Q: <BlkStaff> 2) In one of the recent screen shots Aradune seems supped up. His stats are all above 100, his AC is over 200 and all his resistances are above 50, all at 1st level. I know this was probably done for testing but what will a "regular" Human Ranger's stats look like compared to that and will the Sony staff play with "normal" characters in final (at least part of the time)

A: <Aradune> It is true that Aradune's stats were buffed up for testing, however do keep in mind that the scale for AC and attributes and other stats is a bit different than others systems -- some range from 1-200, and others 1-400. Sony staff will play all sorts of characters in-game, and sometimes you will know they are Sony staff, and sometimes you won't. It depends on the role they are playing. If a GM is assuming the role of an avatar of one of the gods to hand out a quest or some such, I would expect that avatar to have some pretty hefty stats.

Q: <Relay1> *FL_Sonik* Alright: will monsters display cowardice .. . will weaker monsters purposely avoid you and/or only attack you in groups?

A: <Aradune> Yes, some monsters will display cowardice and react differently toward groups and individuals, as well as character they perceive to be more or less powerful than they are. It depends upon the intelligence and type of monster.

Q: <Relay1> I was wondering, are some races going to be faster than other races? In UO this was a big problem, someone with low Dex was just as fast as someone with high Dex and I would like the ability for some races to be faster than others. - Ryu

A: <Aradune> It's based on agility, and some races have better agility than others.

Q: Tell us about the new screenshots. Underwater creatures and the new character.

A: Well, those are giant piranahs, and well, they are hungry and would like to eat the poor female wood elf...
A: And the other pic is a halfling exploring the depths of the dungeon of Paw.

Q: Will there be in-game mail?

A: We are planning on in-game mail, but whether it will make it into first release isn't certain at this point.

Q: When can we expect EQ to hit the shelfs?

A: Sometime in the 2nd half of 1998.

Q: The developers of Everquest seem to have a strong MUD background... when did they start playing online multiplayer games like this?

A: Years and years. There's even a guy on the EverQuest team who played the first MUDs back on mainframes in college in the mid 70s!

Q: are there any plans to allow players to take the role of monsters and fight as them?

A: Nothing concrete at this time, but we have tossed those ideas around from time to time.

Q: 2questions. Will there be boat to boat combat? where there will be cannons? or will you have to rely on a mage or archer to shoot at the opther boats? 2. How long vould it take to sail from one continent to the other? could it take an hour? or only like 10 minutes?

A: Yes, there will be ship combat, and as for how long it takes to sail, it all depends on how far you are sailing.

Bill Trost

Q: <Relay2> So, can your character become an NPC character? Obviously he won't as an NPC have my sparkling personality, but it'd be nice I think to go up to my old adventuring buddy and buy a drink off him [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]. - Comstar

A: <Btrost> Retiring characters is still an unknown at this point.

Q: <Relay3> two part question bill. will we be able to choose from many types of guildhouses?...like can we have a tavern or a cathedral or a fighters arena built onto the main building? -stump|[JETLAG-] can you burn down a building

A: <Btrost> Ok.. Um I assume you are talking about player owned guildhouses... Yes there will be many types. and since we like having some buildings in EQ you will not be able to burn them... [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Q: <Relay2> [SirRobert ) will there be a system to leave messages for players, that they could retrive when they log on?

A: <Btrost> We hope so. whether it will make it into the 1st release is unknown. There will be bulletin boards in game for this purpose though.