Uadjet:  So, welcome everyone to the Developer's Q&A!
Uadjet:  You've all been here many times, so line up if you have a question.
Uadjet:  If not, I'll give a quick update.
Uadjet:  Let's see... It's been three weeks since the last meeting, I think.
Uadjet:  I believe I mentioned the crafting updates? The search function, for example.
Uadjet:  Also the expand node option.
Uadjet:  Oh, expand selected, not expand node.
Uadjet:  It's a button at the top of the crafting UI, right next to the search button.
Uadjet:  Those should be very handy.
Gonger:  Aye, crafting needed improvements badly.
Uadjet:  The expand selected function just saves a lot of annoying clicking, but the search function is badly needed for some of the books.
Gova:  Like the enchanting weapons/armor books. Those are huge. Like over a hundred pages, I think, for the enchanting weapons book.
Uadjet:  Talad's also been doing a lot of work on updating the art of the game.
Uadjet:  I think he started working on shields to give himself more decorations to put on dungeon walls, but they're certainly not limited to that.
Uadjet:  Just today he was working on the Amdeneir roof textures,
Uadjet:  So a lot of the buildings and pieces of furnature will be getting art updates soon.
Uadjet:  He's also continued the discussion on the economy, of course.
Uadjet:  Trying to find a way to fix what's broken and keep it from breaking again five minutes later.
Uadjet:  A lot of ideas were put out there.
Gonger:  We need more luxury stuff to waste money on. And pterosaurs for players.
Uadjet:  Things like limiting merchant tria, or lowering the value of expensive weapons.
Uadjet:  Yeah, and then there's the money sinks.
Anysu:  Really want the armor to show on the female Yilian character. Their normal clothes look quite drab.
Rykia:  Long magic robes for all races would be ideal too.
Uadjet:  Yes, we're still missing some robe textures.
Uadjet:  Talad wants to upgrade the polycount on player models, I think, so new meshes might have to wait until after that's underway.
Rykia:  Oh, ok.
Rykia:  So there is hope the Enki robes may change?
Uadjet:  Now, the female Ynnwn model... That model came with leather armor.
Uadjet:  Not sure why it isn't in game.
Uadjet:  Not a fan of the  Enki robes?
Rykia looks at Anysu. "We aren't so much."
Anysu nods at Rykia
Uadjet:  Anysu wore them yesterday. Most people hadn't seen them before.
Anysu:  Yes I did and some thought looked like an Aztec goddess.
Anysu:  lol
>Anysu grins impishly.
Uadjet:  Heh, it's not a bad look!
Rykia:  Compared to the long blue robes that make Fenki's appear graceful like a cat in real life, let's just say they were a shock to see.
Uadjet:  Ah, I see.
Anysu nods at Rykia
Uadjet:  Well, I don't know about new models, but at least we could get different colours for the different Ways. That might help.
Uadjet:  I should point out that I'm glad Talad bought the viking female model he did, when shopping for a Ynnwn F.
Uadjet:  When I looked for it just now, the other option is  wearing a leather miniskirt, thigh-high boots, and a bikini with one side leather and the other side metal.
Rykia:  Not sure I've seen it yet.
Uadjet:  THAT IS NOT ARMOR!!!!
Rykia:  lol... that is WoW
Anysu:  Sounds a bit like Xena
Anysu:  Old show..
Rykia:  yeah
Gonger:  Or these dreadful browser "RPs" with oversexed females.... *shiver*
Rykia:  One reason many guys play as females I've been told.
Rykia ducks
Anysu nods at Gonger.
Anysu:  Due like the fenki armor and other female armor here.
Uadjet:  Yeah, they look like they're actually intended to protect from damage.
Uadjet:  I think Talad identified looting enchanted weapons as the primary source of excessive wealth, so there could be changes coming to that.
Uadjet:  Right now, the enchantments all have a value multiplier attached to them.
Uadjet:  It goes from 10% for Ruined items, up to 2000% for at least once enchantment.  That's 20 times the base price.
Uadjet:  And the way it works is you multiply the base item value by all of the multipliers.
Uadjet:  So if one multiplier is 5x, and another is 10x, and item with both will be multiplied by 5 and then by 10, for a final value of 50x the base value.
Uadjet:  And it can be much higher than that.
Gonger:  I have a few VERY expensive things in storage...
Uadjet:  I suggested making the enchantments additive, so in that same case you would have a base value, a 5x base value addition, and a 10x base value addition. That's a total of 16x the original value.
Uadjet:  It's just a suggestion, of course.
Uadjet:  One additional cost that's actually being worked on is additional pet options.
Uadjet:  Like new skins for the pets we have.
Uadjet:  Or the ability to have multiple familiars.
Uadjet:  I don't know about pterosaurs, as the ability to move vertically has to be limited somewhat or we'll have players zipping off the map or running head first into invisible walls everywhere.
Uadjet:  Talad's also working on city maps.
Uadjet:  He's got some already, and has commissioned more.
Uadjet:  These aren't just simple maps, though.
Uadjet:  They can show NPC locations once you've found and talked to the NPC, and they allow for players to add their own pins to it.
Anysu:  Good idea.
Anysu:  Be nice to have wilderness maps where you find mineral or plants and it is marked on map after find that area.
Rykia:  Love that idea Anysu
Uadjet:  I did ask Talad about that. He said it was more challenging to do wilderness areas because of the size, but he didnt' say 'no'.
Gonger:  Or be able to put notes on your map...
Rykia:  Seems like some  herbs have dropped out of player sight. Did something happen?
Anysu nods at Gonger
Uadjet:  Yeah, something strange is going on with herbs.
Anysu:  I wonder that too, Rykia
Uadjet:  I've even used info to get the PID of nearby plants and teleported myself to them, but not been able to see them.
Uadjet:  Talad tested a few, though, and they seemed to work.
Uadjet:  I'll have to write up a more detailed bug report, after doing some testing.
Gonger:  I have a question before we come to the end...
Gonger:  There was a question on the subred about dropped items - do they stay forever, or for a while? I answered best I could that I assume items stay, but I am not 100% sure. So what is it?
Uadjet:  As for notes on the map, you can actually do that with custom pins.
Uadjet:  I just checked the vid. You give each pin a name that's always next to the pin, and a description that shows when you hover the mouse over the pin.
Uadjet:  And the NPC pins show a lot of info about the NPC.
Uadjet:  What they buy, what they train, if they're a banker or storage NPC, and probably moer.
Rykia:  Is there a search option?
Uadjet:  No search, but the maps are split up by section of the city.
Anysu:  The npcs move, so a marker unless it moves with  them would not always be valid?
Uadjet:  The names are always visible, so it shouldn't be too hard to find who you want.
Uadjet:  And the NPC pins are in their standard position, not necessarily their currect location.
Uadjet:  It's where they work or live, not where they might wander to.
Rykia:  The Derghir area used to have many different herbs. Still haven't found any.
Uadjet:  Interestingly, the same technique that allows compasses to work should also work for locating other things. Like NPCs.
Uadjet:  That's just a thought.
Anysu:  That be helpful.
Rykia:  Yes it would
Anysu:  I have only found plants/herb near camp Banished.
Rykia:  Used to have 4 by Nyshun ...then it changed to one the last time I was there.
Anysu:  I haven't even found the ruins with her. Found the plat mine near the Derghir by accident.
Anysu:  But what of Gonger's questions about items? Did that get answered?
Uadjet:  I'm trying to find out if the answer changed before I say anything.
Uadjet:  There is a flag that is placed on dropped items. "Transient". Those can occasionally be removed en masse, but it isn't an automated process.
Gonger:  Wise is he who thinks before he speaks.
Uadjet:  I know items dropped by GMs can last for years, but I wasn't entirely sure if items dropped by regular players were the same.
Uadjet:  Then I remembered the sign-in books we used to have in Legacy.
Uadjet:  Those could be there for a year or mroe.
Uadjet:  So items dropped by players can last for a long time, and don't seem to be removed automatically after a cerain length of time.
Rykia:  Didn't a GM need to tag them so they weren't destroyed?
Rykia:  The player "history" books so to speak?
Uadjet:  They can of course be picked up by Gms or players, as the guard status will be removed once the player who dropped it leaves.
Gonger:  What I thought, because i saw sacks of dust in the Smithy for weeks before I got rid of them. Thank you.
Uadjet:  We could, if we knew a wipe was coming to remove all transient items.
Rykia:  Seems strange that an area with no windows seems to get darker inside randomly. ^ ^ The white tile was almost blinding when I arrived.
Uadjet:  Yeah, the day/night cycle is unavoidable.
Uadjet:  Except in Upper Amdeneir, where it's always night.
Rykia:  Love the night cycle here.
Uadjet:  I've got to go place torches there.
Anysu:  There is an option to daylight override
Rykia:  I know Anysu, but I try not to use it.
Uadjet:  Okay, we're well past the hour. I asked Talad in Discord about the dropped items thing.
Uadjet:  I think we can then bring the meeting to a close.

After being done with Illarion, I checked this game out back in 2009, then 2014, and now very impressed with the new version.
Consider me back.

But still one is around

I love that this is still going, I am struggling to remember names, I do remember Moogie, Seperot, Safer, Draklar, Xordan, The K's! Karyuu, Kwartz, Kada-el, Khala, Dorbian

Oh hey there. A few more names I recognize. Hi. o/

For what it is worth, I imagine the "migration" is a reference to migrating from the old engine (crystal space?) to the new one, Unreal.

However, I too felt like the forums being slow wasn't a great sign. But that feeling might only occur to those of us that are used to the forums being more active. Players that started while it was slow and older players that never engaged on the forums might not think much of it.

However, it is nice to see people here again. I wish some more folks would pop in for a hello...