F.A.Q.

F.A.Q.

Please keep in mind while you read this, this text was taken directly from Glitchless.com.

1) Q: When will the Beta be released?

A: The beta is scheduled for Spring 2001.

2) Q: I got the email saying I have been put into the beta tester database, does this mean I'm in for good?

A: We had previously stated that we may be pruning the beta tester database, but this is unlikely. Rather than over collect, we will stop accepting beta testers when we have an amount that we feel will be sufficient for proper testing. Considering we will be doing extensive server load tests, the size of this beta may be much larger than betas in which you have previously participated.

3) Q: What is required to run Dawn?

A: We can't give an exact minimum PC requirement as of yet but we can say you'll need a 3D card and an OS compatible with DirectX 7.0. If you are able to run Quake3 on your computer then you shouldn’t have any trouble with Dawn.

4) Q: How many Dawn servers will there be? And what will be their capacity?

A: The Dawn map will be able house 10-100k players. The large range simply means that its designed to be playable with as little as 10k people or as many as 100k without serious under or over crowding. We intend to have only one instance of the game (one server), but we will add more if necessary due to over population.

5) Q: Why haven't games in the past had servers with such high populations? Isn't it impossible without severe lag?

A: The reason why games in the past have had multiple worlds with population limits of around 10k is simply that it’s extremely difficult and tedious to hand-create worlds large enough to house such high populations. Our world will be computer generated so we can make it as big as we like. Also keep in mind that a Dawn 'server' is actually a series of servers.

6) Q: If the world is computer generated won't it be plain and boring?

A: That depends on who programmed the computer :) We are implementing recursive genetics to create a world that is both realistic and diverse.

7) Q: Will the Dawn world be divided into zones? What will happen when everyone crowds into one area for a war?

A: There will be no zones in Dawn. Locational crowding will not be a concern because we are not using the standard quasi-zone technology found in other zone-less worlds.

8) Q: What happens to your character when he dies?

A: Death in Dawn is permanent. When you die you lose your character for good and all the items that were on him will remain on his corpse. Death, however, should not be nearly as frequent as in other games. Just because you lose a fight with a bear doesn’t necessarily mean he’s going to finish you off. Furthermore, all players have the ability to feign death.

9) Q: What about PK's (player killers)?

A: Their death will be permanent too. The average PK dies more than he kills, and he only has to die once for his reign of terror to be over. It’s up to the players to cooperate with each other to make the game as safe as possible from the evil elements that will exist.

10) Q: Will there be a chance for Resurrection?

A: Resurrection spells will exist but the casting cost will be extremely high – another life of greater or equal value. If you die due to a bug in the game, or an error on our part, you will certainly be resurrected.

11) Q: What are the PvP rules?

A: There will be no restrictions whatsoever concerning PvP. It’s up to the players to create a society that punishes criminals. With the ability to knockout and drag fellow players into player constructed prisons and torture devices, punishment will definitely be a viable option.

12) Q: How will your faction system work?

A: Factions will be sight based and spread by word of mouth for both PC's and NPC's. Factions will be both individual and race based. For example if you are seen killing the relative of an NPC then you may have some NPC's very angry at you. Also if trolls persistently annoy a particular NPC city then they will begin to dislike trolls. Keep in mind, however, just because an NPC dislikes you doesn't mean he is going to kill you. He may tell you to piss off, he may smack you around, he may imprison you, but an NPC will have to REALLY hate you in order to end your life. Murder is something that smart PC's and NPC's alike should avoid when possible.

13) Q: Will I be able to construct my own buildings?

A: Yes. Players will be able to construct structures from houses to castles to prisons to boats to ballistae - all fully functional and destructible.

14) Q: What's the deal with archery and range weapons?

A: We have developed a targeting system that will completely revolutionize archery, ranged weapons, target acquisition, etc. No more clicking on monsters only to continually target corpses. Archery will be comparable to sniping in FPS's but without the effects of latency because of our excellent client side prediction. (For you techies, eliminating the effects of latency is possible because there won’t be ‘rocket launcher’ type weapons where you are required to lead your target. Our latency elimination is NOT an empty promise.)

15) Q: How does the Dawn spawning system work?

A: There is no spawning. All creatures procreate via sexual reproduction. There will, however, be no sexual animations or any type. It’s more like a Sims type feature that allows for incredible role-play opportunities considering there will be REAL PC family structures. You won’t have to pretend to be so-and-so’s brother anymore because you actually will be. For more information on this huge and controversial topic visit the beta page at www.glitchless.com/betatest

16) Q: How does the Dawn con system work?

A: This has not yet been agreed upon. Hopefully player stats will affect player appearance enough so that you will be able to get a good idea of how powerful they are just by looking at them. We feel uncertainty in opponent strength is a good way to lower the amount of random PKing.

17) Q: Will there be age limits?

A: The current plan is to have an age limit of approximately 10 years real time for PC’s. Weaker creatures may have shorter life spans.

18) Q: How long will days last in Dawn?

A: 48 Earth hours.

19) Q: Will there be 1 sun and 1 moon like Earth?

A: That's something the astronomers of Dawn will have to find out on their own. Unlike in other games where the sky is just a random texture, the sky in Dawn will be a realistic star system that you will be able to use to determine your position on the spherical planet.

20) Q: How long does it take to circumnavigate the Dawn world?

A: Dawn’s world is the biggest ever in an MMORPG. Spanning over 65,000 square miles (compared to AC’s 500 square miles) and taking over 72 hours to circle, its safe to say that there are areas of the planet that may never be reached.

21) Q: How many landmasses will there be? How many oceans?

A: Go explore for yourself. We will never give you a map; this game is about adventure.

22) Q: What happens when you log off?

A: When you log off you stay where you are, fully visible to other players, and you will appear as though you are sleeping. You will be granted the protection of the gods during this time so you will not be vulnerable to immediate attacks. All your stamina and health (general terms, these aren't necessarily what we are calling it) will regain at normal rates when you are logged off so you don't have to worry about logging on with 1 HP and a monster right next to you. You should be logging in safe areas, however, preferably behind the locked door of an inn or your own house.

23) Q: Locked door? How will this work?

A: Locks will play a big part in this game (making lock picking a useful trade) and will be used on houses, safes, jail cells, etc. Locks can be key based, spell based (in which case you may have to say a specific word to open it) or combination based.

24) Q: What happens to your stuff when you die?

A: Nothing special. Your items stay on your corpse and are lootable by anyone. Your house remains the same, all the locks stay locked. If people learn of your death they may decide to knock down your house, but you can also make another character in the same area and get back into your house (if you have a spare key hidden somewhere and/or remember the magic word that opens your lock) to reclaim stored items. Usually players will be hunting in groups and in the case of an untimely death your group members could keep your goods for a new character that you create. This is an OOC activity, however, and although we will do nothing to prevent this from happening we don't consider it good role playing.

25) Q: What's the difference between a pet and a follower?

A: A pet is a summoned creature. He lasts only as long as the caster can keep the spell alive. He is not equipable and not levelable. The strength of the pet is dependant on the spell casters stats and the spell he is using to cast the pet with. Pets will not cause any experience penalties. A pet is completely loyal. You may summon multiple pets at once granted you have the power to do so. Example: just as an anarchist can cast two continuous flame streams at once a summoner can cast two pets at once; in either case they will last as long as the spell caster can keep the spell alive. A follower is a permanent creature that is bound to you when it is at its lowest level. You will have to level and equip your follower(s) as necessary. You may have multiple followers at once. A person who is level X and has a level Y and a level Z follower is considered to be a single entity of level X+Y+Z. Followers are completely loyal.

26) Q: Will there be races/classes?

A: There will races but no classes. Players are free to develop in the areas they choose. Certain races will be more adept at different types of skills based on their base stats. Stats play an absolutely crucial role in this game.

27) Q: How does player improvement work?

A: Players will improve in 3 basic ways: Stats, Skills, and items. Stats go up according to your base stats each time you level. Skills go up as you practice them AND have no caps. Items are self-explanatory.

28) Q: How does your spell system work?

A: All spells are item based. Just as a warrior would get a new sword with better stats a wizard can get a new wand or ring with a better castable spell. Most spells will be on rings and you will be able to equip up to 10 rings.

29) Q: How much can we customize our config/controls?

A: Everything action/command/inventory slot/item/etc will be bindable to any input devices you choose. This allows for complete customization of controls. Players who don't want to mess around with the somewhat tedious process of assigning buttons to commands and so forth will be given several different default control setups to choose from.

30) Q: Will my items degrade over time?

A: A final decision as not be reached yet concerning the degradation of wearable items. Foodstuff will most certainly degrade at variable rates making food preparation a profitable venture since travelers/explorers will want food that is light and lasts long periods of time.

31) Q: Will there be different types of vision?

A: Yes, we are currently planning for 4 different types of vision.

32) Q: Will I be allowed to have multiple characters on the same account?

A: Yes, we want you to be able to experiment with different characters without killing your other ones.

33) Q: Will there be methods of long distance communication?

A: Yes a couple in fact. They won't be as simple as say a /tell system, there will be small delays in message transfer for the universal method of long distance communication. There will be other more advanced methods that will have no delays (psionics), but those will be skill based.

34) Q: Will I be able to easily communicate with groups of people at once?

A: Absolutely. We realize good communication is essential to many aspects of organization and society formation and will be creating an easy to use method of group/multiple player communication.

35) Q: Will I be able to choose my starting point so that I can play alongside my IRL friends?

A: Yes. The spawning system allows you the option to choose your parents. If you have IRL friends that are expecting a baby you can create a character and assign them as your parents (with their permission). You will then be born at the proper time. Pregnancy lasts a week and you can go through this process anything during this period.

36) Q: Are we going to start in preconstructed towns or cities?

A: No, the game initially will start with nothing prebuilt. Even NPC's will be starting from scratch and building cities as the game progresses.

37) Q: If we are starting from scratch how will we have any items in the beginning to kill things? Won't casters be extremely vulnerable and helpless?

A: You are born to parents. Your parents will most likely be helpful and give you items and advice to help you progress. After all you are their child. If your parents abandon you, you will have a rough time maturing in the game at first, but you gain experience from all completed activities, which means you don’t necessarily have to kill things in order to level.

38) Q: What will we need in order to build structures?

A: You will need to collect raw materials. Lumbering, mining, etc will be skills that will allow you to collect raw materials used for the creation of structures and items.

39) Q: What are the rules of conduct?

A: Stay in character. There isn't room for OOC in this game. As long as you are in character you can basically do whatever you wish. Some characters are evil; they will be expected to do evil things. Many races dislike other races. A drunkened dwarf may spout off sexist remarks to his wench. As long as things are done in character they are acceptable. We will not be punishing people who engage in harmless OOC conversations, but if you are running around spouting Tu-Pac lyrics, the gods might have bust a cap.

40) Q: What's the Deity system?

A: There may/may not be gods. They may/may not be watching you. You may/may not wish to worship them. You may/may not see them. They may/may not intervene.

41) Q: Will items on the ground disappear after a certain amount of time?

A: Only if they are naturally degradable. We don’t plan to degrade items unless we absolutely have to because of server problems.

42) Q: Do you really think people will sacrifice their lives to protect their home or for a cause?

A: People do it in real life and most consider their real life more valuable than their characters life. If you run away from every sign of conflict you may live longer, but you'll be missing out on the very best part of the game. Go watch Braveheart!

43) Q: Will there be mounts? boats? teleportation?

A: Yes there will be mountable horses, wagons, boats, etc. If teleportation exists in the game it will be limited to areas you have already explored for example a bind/gate combination or a line of sight teleportation.

44) Q: What are you going to do about Ebay?

A: We will have a disclaimer explaining that we in no way support the selling of characters or items online but we won't actively police or discourage it. The world will be so large that with limited teleportation selling items on Ebay won't be very profitable. Buying characters won't be too great of an idea either considering how easy it would be to get killed and lose everything if you are inexperienced and don't know the characters capabilities and limitations. This game isn't a race to 50, its an immersive adventure. The fun part isn't being there - its getting there.

45) Q: Will we be able to write and make our own coat of arms?

A: Writing will definitely be a possibility. We're planning on having drawing, tattooing and things such as that as well to include personalized skin and armor.

46) Q: What do you get EXP from?

A: You get experience from every completed activity. That which is defined as an activity in Dawn, however, will be a complex task which will NOT be macro-able.

47) Q: Can you dig holes in the ground and burrow?

A: We have implemented simple terrain manipulation that will allow you to dig channels in the ground for moats and such. Probably the biggest use will be for redirecting water flow. Our water physics are exceptional to say the least, our oceans have real waves and dropping a pebble in the water will cause rippling and possibly a splash. For videos check the screenshots link off of www.glitchless.com

48) Q: Will resources be limited?

A: Yes, mines will have a limited amount of minerals and forests if completely cut down may not grow back. Theoretically the entire planet could be robbed of nearly all its natural resources, but by that time Dusk will be out and everyone will be playing that :)

49) Q: Will players be able to loot your corpse when you feign death?

A: Yes. You will take on every characteristic associated with death (except the permanent part).

50) Q: What happens when my character goes link dead?

A: In the case of a lost connection AI will control your character. Good AI that will be customizable (if you so choose) and that will get you out of 99% of the messes that you could get yourself out of. Besides being a perm death game you probably won't be engaging in extremely risky battles all the time and AI will definitely get you out of a little squirmish. After any threats are eliminated AI will try to make you log.

51) Q: Do you consider the other MMORPGs currently in development a threat to Dawn?

A: We feel the existence of competition will actually be beneficial to the quality of the Dawn player population. Those who want to embark in a meaningful adventure where every stat, every move, every ally and every enemy can be the difference between life and death (real death) will play Dawn. The people who are just "playing for fun" and have the "its just a game" mentality will choose to play the other games. We'll accumulate a population of true role players making the game more enjoyable for everyone who plays. There are lots of glorified EQ's on their way to the market, but there is only one Dawn.

52) Q: Is Dawn just about PvP?

A: Not at all. The PvE aspect of the game will be just as prominent if not more.

53) Q: Will you have to go to the bathroom?

A: Not in the game, but perhaps during it.

54) Q: Will NPC's be the same races as the PC's?

A: Yes and no. There will be intelligent NPC's of unannounced races.

55) Q: What's going to happen to the beta server when the beta is through?

A: Something epic.

56) Q: Can we swim in the game?

A: Yes, the majority of the world will most likely be covered in water. What lies beneath is for you to discover.

57) Q: Can we build structures underwater?

A: Yes. There will be methods of underwater survival as well as underwater species.

58) Q: Will player names be visible over their heads?

A: No.

59) Q: What's the max number of people in a group?

A: There is no max. Keep in mind forming a group in Dawn is for organizational purposes; its not something that allows you to target other group members more easily. In other words there isn't going to be a list of group members on the side of the window - this wouldn't be feasible in war scenarios when your group might easily have 100+ people in it.

60) Q: How are you handling eating in Dawn?

A: You'll automatically consume food that's in your inventory. This isn't an area we feel should be any more complex.

61) Q: How will we get new spells?

A: Spells will be item based. The idea is to give both melee and casters the same fun in loot. In previous games casters always knew what spells they were going to get at what levels whereas melee got to loot all sorts of nice new items that improved their characters strength and appearance. Now getting a new spell will be like getting a new more powerful sword or piece of armor.