The ground trembles and the sky suddenly arcs with lightning as fear shivers through your body like a winter storm raking at an autumn leaf. Before you a dark portal forms and out of it steps Kodius who raises his arms, calming the ground and quieting the sky.
You loudly say, "Okay, welp, I'll cede the floor to those with ultimate cosmic power, to begin when they desire."
Jaedren says, "I'm just here to make fun of people."
Kodius says, "Alright, I'll get this thing kicked off."
Kodius says, "I'd like to talk a little bit today about the coming changes to the guild, and what you can expect and when."
Kodius says, "For the past 9 months or so, I have been dismantling and rewriting the guild from scratch."
Kodius says, "As we've discussed on the forums, this is a result of numerous changes taking place in other areas of the game, as well as a need for expanding the guild and taking it in new directions."
Kodius says, "Aside from new abilities, Barbarians will also be getting a new Inner Fire system, new skills, and many more decisions to make than before."
Jaedren says, "He's a lot nicer about the decision stuff than I was."
Kodius says, "I figure I would start with the new Inner Fire system. The system we have now is pretty much all or nothing. Lose your inner fire, and you are helpless and unable to do anything fun. Worse, it takes an age to recover."
Kodius says, "What I have in development, is a system where you quickly regenerate a portion of your inner fire. Beyond this, you must kill or perform Barbaric actions to accumulate more."
Kodius says, "Now, each ability will interact with inner fire in a different way."
Kodius says, "Forms are the long term buffs. Most will last for a considrable time, but each form will reduce your inner fire cap while in effect."
Kodius says, "Inner fire skill will dictate how much of a drain each form is - so you can effectively use more at one time as you grow in skill."
Kodius says, "So, by choosing to use forms you limit how much inner fire you regenerate passively."
Kodius says, "Berserks are similar to what you have now. A hit to your inner fire when you start them, and hits as they pulse."
Kodius says, "Wheras forms last for an hour or so at the high end, berserks are very short."
Kodius says, "Panic button type of abilities."
Kodius says, "Going away are many of the annoying side effects of berserking, too."
Kodius says, "A panic button that prevents you from doing anything, is not very helpful."
Kodius says, "Now, some of these changes are the result of the "bigger picture"."
Kodius says, "We are no longer allowed to make abilities stronger by giving them penalties."
Kodius says, "So, any penalties associated with something like a berserk, only serve to hurt that ability in the long run."
Jaedren says, "Fun fact: The first 'rewrite' of berserks that Skiori and I did, precluded you from seeing ANYTHING in the room. Directions, people, critters, text..."
Kodius says, "There will still be some things you can't do, but it is a vast improvement over what we have now."
Kodius says, "Meditations require some prep time, and generally can't be used while in combat or doing anything strenuous."
Kodius says, "So, exit combat, find a safe spot, and slow your heart and stop your bleeding."
Kodius says, "But, get smacked and all bets are off."
Kodius says, "Roars will be losing their room-affecting capability at the start, but that can be added later by spending slots on the expertise for it."
Kodius says, "As I've said before, they can be targeted at one enemy, or anything engaged at you."
Kodius says, "Chakrel will become more important as it relates to meditations too. So that may matter for some of you."
Kodius says, "There will also be a path of expertise for barbarians wanting to make themselves better at hunting mages."
Kodius says, "As for the Expertise skill, I am predicting that will not be available at release - but the skill, its requirements to circle and its grandfathering will come shortly therafter."
Kodius says, "I really want to integrate it correctly with Combat, but there are some issues there right now."
Magdar asks, "A skill solely devoted to hunting mages?"
Kodius says, "Abilities you can purchase that help you."
Kodius says, "For example, the ability to identify spell preparations."
Kodius says, "**This may change** I think supernatural tertiary guilds (which includes barbarians) will get 1 slot every other circle to spend on abilities."
Kodius says, "Abilities will cost 1, 2 or 3 slots."
Kodius says, "As previously mentioned, they will exist in 3 Paths - Horde, Flame and Predator."
Kodius says, "Right now I have a working model for each of the types of abilities and am just doing the grunt work of messaging, effects and all that fun stuff."
Kodius says, "I still anticipate having everything ready to go when The Big Push happens."
Kodius says, "In a few weeks I'll post the tentative ability list for discussion, and see what death threats I get."
Kodius says, "Ok, that's enough from me. I am sure you are all dying to ask questions."
Craxor is next.
Craxor says, "Couple questions...serk durations? are we talking seconds or? and will we still have the stunned so come kill me effect at the end of them."
Kodius says, "Berserks will generally last for a couple of minutes tops, and will only cause you a problem if you are entirely depleted of inner fire when you try to use them."
Craxor asks, "Ah ok, and chakrel...will there be different levels of them, beyond the two or so we now have?"
Kodius says, "Several new meditations will enable you to better manage your inner fire usage, and you will be able to retreat now when a berserk is up and nearing expiring, to alleivate the problems."
Kodius says, "There will be new levels of chakrel available."
Craxor asks, "So the better the chakrel the more effective the meditation?"
Kodius says, "In some cases that could be true."
Kodius says, "Meditations will require more preparation with crappier or no chakrel."
Kodius says, "But all abilities will be usable without the item."
Ohe is next.
Ohe says, "Wondering if death is gonna affect any more then bleeders combat and other such. Or I should say recoverly of recent death."
Kodius says, "Death will still suck your inner fire dry, but with the changes that is not nearly the setback it once was."
Kodius says, "Beyond that, it is as much the same as other guilds."
Nikns is next.
Nikns asks, "Hey... just want to know if we'll have any way of dealing with stealth. I know if you can't find'em it's supposed to be some area effect thing, and sounds like a berserk would be a good place for that. Any comment?"
Kodius says, "I plan to keep the Roar, Slash the Shadows. If you succeed it can unhide/penalize an enemy's stealth. Beyond that you will have some berserks providing a pulsing melee/pole ranged attack. An advancing foe could get caught with it."
Kodius says, "Roaring is your best bet overall."
Kodius says, "Roars will be changing so you can't chain gun them off, but in some ways they will be more potent."
Kodius says, "Mostly by fixing all the stuff that never worked right to begin with."
Jalich is next.
Jalich asks, "What skills in the supernatural skillset drive the effectivess of our new forms, roars and berserks?"
Kodius says, "Inner Fire controls how much your inner fire cap is reduced by enacting a form (or multiple forms). Berserks, Roars and Meditation inner fire usage is also controlled with this skill."
Kodius says, "Augmentation pretty much is used to determine the potency and duration of any buffing ability. Debilitation for any debuffing ability (roars generally speaking)."
Kodius says, "Warding affects the potency and duration of any anti-magic ability."
Magdar is next.
Magdar asks, "I dance dragon most of the time. Have trained my stats based on its availability. How do our new skills stack up to the old dragon dance? Can we get close or exceed it with stacking?"
Kodius says, "Duration, hands down your new forms will last much much longer."
Kodius says, "As for potency, each form will only bonus 1 or 2 things."
Kodius says, "You'll need to layer them for the best possible effect."
Kodius says, "To that end I hope to have tools where you can create a custom form, which is several forms all in one."
Kodius says, "You use it, and it gradually enables all of them."
Kodius says, "Forms will have a startup time associated with them."
Kodius says, "The first 30 seconds they don't do as much, but every 15 seconds they will do more and more until you have the full effect after about a minute."
Kodius says, "Berserks are where you go for immediate effect."
Kodius says, "It is all about decisions."
Kodius says, "My goal is to have weaponsmithing and the barbarian rewrite done by Simucon time. We all know how life can throw us curve balls, but I'm making good progress, and have pretty good with my time estimates in the past."
Kodius says, "Hmm, well thenm maybe before August. I generally expect it to be about June/July."
Codiax says, "Before or after or some time as combat 3.0..sorry for add in question."
Kodius says, "At the same time as magic 3.0 and skills 3.0. Combat 3.0 may be delayed, hence the Expertise abilities not being ready at once."
Thallie is next.
Codiax nods.
Thallie asks, "Okay most of this stuff if flying over my head and I was gonna ask what forms and paths ya were talking about.. but then ya mentioned that berserks would only last a coupla minutes!! I hunt for half an hour on my berserks.. am I gonna have to change my way of training altogether?"
Kodius says, "In the new system you will find yourself using forms, not berserks for the bulk of your hunting. Alternatively you could just berserk more often, and to greater effect than others."
Kodius says, "The system is changing so berserks are no longer a "long" duration ability."
Kodius says, "They are panic buttons, and short duration rages meant to inflict a lot of damage in a short amount of time, or get you out of a tight spot."
Kodius says, "Each Path has a combination of all the abilities."
Kodius says, "So the horde path has berserks, forms, roars and even a meditation or two thrown in."
Kodius says, "The abilities themselves are not the paths which I described earlier - Predator, Horde and Flame."
Kodius says, "Let me rephrase, you can use 4 forms, and 2 berserks at once, and a meditation, and roar - if you have the skill."
Kodius says, "Also keep in mind that if you are using less forms, you can likely use some berserks back-to-back as you will have the inner fire to do so."
Squanto is next.
Squanto asks, "Will there be a better guage for the IF and voice pools? Maybe like the fatigue or health bar. Right now, they refill in chunks each pulse. Any chance they can refill more frequently? Or maybe have more varying levels of fullness?"
Kodius says, "My goal is to offer some abilities that give you that level of detail for your abilities. But its a choice you need to make if you think you need it."
Kodius says, "The standard messaging is a level of fullness, and how much your cap is being reduced by having forms in effect."
Squanto asks, "Will those messages that are in place be there still?"
Kodius says, "I don't plan to change them substantially for the basic "how much IF do I have" messaging."
Kodius says, "Probably add a few more levels of feedback."
Kodius says, "If you select the proper ability you could get a "bar" so to speak."
Kodius says, "But, that and the other mage abilities could have consequences."
Kodius says, "There is a line, don't cross it."
Caraamon is next.
Caraamon loudly asks, "Okay, first off, how rigid are these paths in their progression?"
Kodius says, "Loose. There are tiers, but most only have a circle and/or 1 other ability as a pre-req."
Kodius says, "It isn't like crafting techniques."
Kodius says, "You can go partway down one path, then go partway down another."
Caraamon loudly asks, "Do you have to have a tier 1 ability to pick a tier 2?"
Kodius says, "There are benefits to going entirely down one path, though."
Caraamon loudly asks, "What are these mage abilities you alluded to?"
Kodius says, "One is identifying what spells are being prepared in the area."
Caraamon loudly asks, "And these have consequences for taking?"
Kodius says, "You'll have a roar that disrupts the mana of affected mages, and another that interrupts their spell preparations and inflicts a penalty on them."
Kodius says, "You'll have to experiement and find out."
Kodius says, "All abilities can be unlearned for a price, and time."
Kodius says, "Asking your local Guildleader about it will shed more light on things once it is all released."
Vinjince says, "Mainly two things. How will the RT be for activating forms, considering they're broken down from dances."
Vinjince says, "And the minute thing for full effect."
Kodius says, "Activating a form will only have a small RT (of a second or so)."
Kodius says, "You'll get an effect immediately, just not a big one."
Vinjince asks, "Will they be visible?"
Kodius says, "You will get feedback on where it is at."
Kodius says, "You will also be able to see what abilities are in effect on you, and with the right ability get feedback on how long they will last."
Vinjince says, "I was thinking it would be great if we could have a way to customize a set of forms we wish to activate, something like the way stances are set up."
Kodius says, "Part of being a barbarian, is that your abilities are less ordered and more chaotic than magic."
Kodius says, "The more you do to make them easier to use (more ordered, more feedback), the more consequences it can have."
Kodius says, "But, there choice will exist."
Kodius says, "I hope to have a custom form you can setup in advance."
Vinjince asks, "What are some examples of our anti-magic abilities? Like, does one protect against WvW, and another against TM, and so on?"
Kodius says, "Barbarians will have a number of anti-magic abilities. Let me dig them up."
Kodius says, "Turtle form is an anti-magic barrier capable of reducing a spell's potency."
Kodius says, "Toad form is an elemental damage shield."
Kodius says, "All forms are animal-themed."
Kodius says, "Berserks, are disaster themed."
Kodius says, "In case anyone was wondering."
Kodius says, "Berserk Volcano is an unkillable effect. So, magic is the least of your concerns."
Kodius says, "Meditation Serenity is a magic integrity barrier. Essentially it tries to entirely disrupt the spell."
Kodius says, "You can also Meditate Dispel, and remove magical effects on you."
Kodius says, "Meditation Bastion is a Save versus Strength bonus."
Kodius says, "Serenity will have some restrictions due to its extreme immunity capability."
Markios is next.
Markios calmly says, "How hard to change a path or lose a skill slot if chosen and you decide on another route. Id hate to get locked into one way or another..is there a way to start over besides rerollin? If i dont like the one path i was travelin down."
Kodius says, "Very easy."
Kodius says, "Compared to what we have now rather."
Kodius chortles softly at some secret joke.
Kodius says, "Much like forgetting a spell slot. Spend some coin, wait some time."
Codiax is next.
Codiax asks, "Caraamon got part of my question, but I'll add to it. Concerning paths, if you go down one path, but want a certain 1 ability in another path I assume you have to get all the abilities up to that ability in the other path?"
Kodius says, "Well, the paths are loose. So it may require learning 1 or 2 from that other path. But you won't need to heavilty invest to be a jack of all trades."
Kodius says, "Heavily even."
Kodius says, "What you give up is access to some of the final abilities that have a lot of oomph."
Kodius says, "For example, Serenity will require heavy investment in the Flame Path to obtain."
Kodius says, "Berserk Volcano (unkillable) will require heavy investment in the Horde path."
Magdar is next.
Magdar says, "How many ability slots will all the abilities of each path cost? How about a grand total? Today I need to be 235th curcle to get all of our roars.."
Kodius says, "They will vary between 1-3 slots each, and I anticipate you spending 80 circles to master a single path."
Kodius says, "In some ways it will be like the other guilds where abilities are added over time as we think up new things."
Magdar asks, "Great! that sounds very reasonable. And what will happen to thinks like shark teath?"
Kodius says, "Barbarian items will be changing a bit."
Kodius says, "You'll need to learn an ability to get the full effect out of your items."
Caraamon loudly asks, "Which path?"
Kodius says, "Various paths."
Kodius says, "Warhorns will be a part of the horde."
Kodius says, "Sharksterth will be a part of the Flame."
Kodius says, "Bah I can't talk today."
Kodius says, "Basically, some of the barbarian items are a bit too powerful. So instead of making them gone entirely, I'm going to tie them to an ability and give them some new flashy fun."
Kodius says, "On that note I'll also talk about Expertise a bit."
Kodius says, "I've tossed around several variations of it over the months."
Kodius says, "I am currently leaning towards you choosing a weapon expertise at circle 1."
Kodius says, "You are an expert, with staves, or bows, or whatnot."
Kodius says, "Which opens up new maneuevers you can make use of with weapons of that type."
Kodius says, "This also opens the door for a favored weapon (specific weapon)."
Kodius says, "I need to figure out what is possible with Combat before I nail it all down."
Caraamon is next.
Caraamon loudly says, "Okay, couple short things hopefully."
Caraamon loudly asks, "Will there be any way to get additional "slots" similar to the way you can buy extra spell slots?"
Kodius says, "That depends on what the Bosses say is going to happen to spell slot buying in the new system."
Kodius says, "If it stays, I imagine we could have something similar."
Caraamon loudly says, "Second, do you have any plans for chakrel weapons? Cause if they mostly affect meditiations which need to be done out of combat..."
Kodius says, "Chakrel weapons can have other abilities not tied to meditations."
Kodius says, "I hope to take chakrel in a bit of a new direction, especially as it relates to crafting."
Caraamon loudly asks, "As in chakrel will affect your crafting, or chakrel will be wierd to craft?"
Magdar asks, "And what craft will that require?"
Kodius says, "Chakrel is a stone-like material, so it makes sense you can embellish and carve with it."
Kodius says, "Much like Vishlan has done traditionally."
Kodius says, "Anyways, more of that to come later."
Jalich is next.
Jalich asks, "What should we expect from our new guild reqs, and how are they progressing?"
Kodius says, "I am working with Socharis on that. We've had some hiccups due to the mastery skills putting you into too good of a spot on the Primary skill side."
Kodius says, "I hope to grandfather Inner Fire skill at 1 rank/circle."
Kodius says, "Then you'd get debilitation, augementation and warding at... 50% of that? I cannot recall."
Kodius says, "The way your abilities work is they weight for potency, and then duration."
Kodius says, "So you'll quickly cap potency, and duration will come later."
Jalich asks, "Duration is skill driven and potency is circle based?"
Kodius says, "No, they are both skill based."
Kodius says, "I'm just saying that, having only 50 ranks in Inner Fire as a 50th circle barbarian won't be the end of the world."
Kodius says, "Wait and see how it plays before getting too worked up."
Vinjince is next.
Vinjince asks, "What's happening to warstomp?"
Vinjince says, "And whirlwind."
Kodius says, "100th circle abilities are so DR 2.0. Warstomp, Whirlwind and the like are being moved into the Expertise set of abilities."
Kodius says, "Much like you can pay slots to learn how to fight mages better, or use items better, you can get abilities out of it too."
Kodius says, "I really want to make the guild less 1-dimensional."
Vinjince asks, "Ok, next... how exactly will we train our skills? Like, wouldn't using our forms over and over deplete our inner fire and we have a hard time learning the appropriate skill?"
Kodius says, "Forms will train over time, kind of like how Trading works."
Kodius says, "Berserks train immediately when you use them, as do Roars. Meditations teach better when used correctly."
Kodius says, "Expertise will be trained when using the new abilities tied to your chosen weapon focus."
Vinjince asks, "And last, what sort of special feats do I get if I choose thrown as my expertise?"
Kodius says, "I don't see anything being impossible to mind lock while hunting normally, or keep moving at 10/32 while in town doing other stuff."
Kodius says, "I do not have a list of final maneuvers due to the pending analysis of combat."
Kodius says, "To go back to Thaillie's comment, by circle 20 you'll have 40 slots, mor or less. That should be plenty to buy 4 forms, 4 berserks, 2 roars, 2 meditations, and a special ability or two."
Kodius says, "Ok, cold medicine kicking in."
Kodius says, "Lol."
Kodius says, "I have a 102 degree fever at the moment."
Kodius says, "10 slots, which is enough for the abilities as mentioned."
Kodius says, "Assuming you pick single slot abilities."
Kodius says, "The goal isn't to keep the content only for very high circle players."
Kodius says, "But, to keep some content for them. Enough that circle 150 means something."
Kodius says, "I did compare Dragon Dance to what I would use with forms/berserks at about your circle/skill level, and the only thing you'd lose out on are things you don't need or use."
Kodius says, "Or, if you have 1000+ ranks you lose a little due to rounding."
Kodius says, "Dragon dance really boosted some ridiculous things in odd ways."
Squanto is next.
Squanto asks, "If we pick specific paths, will certain guildleaders be the go to guys/gals for said path forms, abilities, etc?"
Kodius says, "Yes."
Kodius says, "Like Mo, he is of the Horde."
Squanto says, "Yeah everything seems randomly spread out."
Kodius says, "One of my goals is expanding upon that considerably - but it is a lower priority to getting you a useable guild for the new stuff coming out."
Squanto asks, "About how long will it take a naked-abilitied barb to get all his/her path reqs to be up to speed?"
Kodius asks, "I don't think I understand the question.. Path requirements?"
Squanto asks, "Well, after the rewrite we have no spent slots right?"
Kodius says, "Correct."
Squanto asks, "Is it going to take an entire day to catch back up?"
Kodius says, "You'll just need to visit the guildleaders and learn what you want."
Kodius says, "I may allow one guild leader to teach everything, but at a cost for things he isn't as good with."
Kodius says, "Kind of like an, ok you are out on the islands and don't want to spend an hour on a boat to learn this one ability..."
Squanto asks, "So for a cost of coin we can get everything at one leader?"
Kodius says, "I'm leaning towards that approach."
Kodius says, "You may have to endure some insults and broken bones."
Kodius says, "What can I say! Mo isn't good at that meditation thingie."
Codiax is next.
Codiax asks, "Expertise switchable?"
Kodius says, "You'll have a chance to pick up a second expertise at circle 70, and another at circle 150 I am thinking."
Kodius says, "But I don't really want it to be too switchable."
Codiax asks, "And concerning experience, do you see a berserk a short burst of experience and forms slower over time?"
Kodius says, "Your expertise is a big part of what defines you as a monk, a warrior, a knight, a mercenary."
Kodius says, "Yes."
Nikns says, "As long as it doesn't feel like a holy weapon."
Kodius says, "Nah, nothing so rigid as it comes to a favored weapon."
Kodius says, "We have too many problems with people having the gelapod eat their special holy weapon of doom."
Leilond is next.
Leilond asks, "I think you slightly touched on this. Will Barbarian forms and Berserks mostly be percentage based(EX: getting a 15% bonus to a skill) or straight rank increase based(EX: 75 rank increase regardless of skill)? If it is the former(percentage based) will those percents be bound to global caps?"
Kodius says, "I am seeing everything as straight rank based. All abilities will be able to give the maximum, capped bonus if they touch it."
Kodius says, "Previously we had a lot of ... +5 to this, +7 to that, +50 to this, +5 to that... and another guild has a +100 to only this."
Leilond asks, "So you're moving away from percents?"
Kodius says, "We figure folks really want the strongest possible bonus from an ability."
Kodius says, "Well, you'll still be limited to a % of your skill, even if an ability gives a +X rank bonus."
Kodius says, "The bottom-cap, so to speak."
Kodius says, "If you have 1 rank in LT, dancing dragon won't give you the full bonus.."
Ohe is next.
Ohe says, "Yes, curious to know if the new forms will be coming out in different locations, or will they be a one teacher trains all thing. And if they are in different locations will we get any markings to help us locate 'em."
Kodius just closed the question list.
Kodius says, "For the ease of release, I'd like you to be able to get everything you need from one guildleader - but some may have a cost associated with abilities not of his or her path."
Vinjince is next.
Vinjince asks, "Will we get a list of what each ability does? Instead of some vague description?"
Kodius says, "You will be able to ask a guildleader about it, and get a very precise defintion. Wolf Form makes you advance faster..."
Kodius says, "You can also FORM HELP <form name> and if you know it, get the same message about what it does."
Caraamon is next.
Caraamon loudly asks, "Okay, last question, anything you'd like to share with us regarding Barbarian-specific crafting?"
Kodius says, "Well, you already know the specifics of your guild specific bonus to weapon smitihng."
Kodius says, "Chakrel is likely going to have several varieties, and you can carve/embellish it into items for use with your abilities."
Magdar says, "And our chakrel related abilities..."
Kodius says, "I don't have any plans for any guild to have guild abilities that affect crafting skills just yet."
Kodius says, "Just ignore references to spells and enchantes that do such and such with crafting for now."
Kodius says, "You will have forms and meditations that can bonus survival skills."
Kodius says, "If you had to pick 2 of the following 3..."
Kodius says, "Outdoorsmanship, Athletics, Disarm/Lockpick.."
Kodius says, "I'll probably start a forum poll to see what folks generally prefer."
[insert everyone chiming in with "the first two" ]
Kodius says, "Well, that is a good data point."
Kodius says, "Well, the list is empty and my berserk here is about to wear off."
Kodius says, "Crashing down atop my laptop screen would be notgood."
Kodius says, "Hollar on the forums if anything comes up."
Kodius says, "Or if you wish to suggest alternatives or improvementsto anything mentioned tonight."
The air about Kodius begins to waver and his whole form begins to shimmer, as if he is lying just below the surface of a pool, while colors ripple across his image until it completely fades away, leaving you staring at the remnants of a fading mist.
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