Ironworks Gaming Forum - New Expansion

Q&A From http://www.jsonline.com/enter/homeen...b03/120808.asp
Q. The introduction of werewolves has generated a lot of excitement, so let's discuss the mechanics. Is it possible for a character to contract lycanthropy from a werewolf if they have immunity to disease?

A. I don't believe they will be able to get it if they have complete immunity to disease. But we have ways around that because it is part of the story. It is something we have talked about for a while - we wanted to make sure they are given a choice. Do you want to get cured or become the wolf?

Q. Will characters be able to switch back and forth between werewolf form and their human form? If yes, will there be situations when they will involuntary change forms?

A. We are not ready to say yet how that works. You do switch back and forth. There are different ways. We have an implementation we are playing around with.

Q. Are the physical bonuses acquired when in werewolf form only present in that form?

A. Yes. We wanted to treat it like a lot of people who get this have played the game a lot, and we want this to be a different experience. We don't want it to be a stat bonus. Being a werewolf is going to remove your other bonuses, and the other powers you have will go away. You are going to play a completely different character powerful in a different manner. There are so many other ways to get power. This allows us to do cool questing things because it's the only time we know your exact status, so we can really customize things.

Q. So to follow up on what you just said, then, for example, a level 20 werewolf is as powerful as a level 50 werewolf?

A. That is still a little open as far as some of the stats. There are some things we want to keep the same. Again, we are still playing with it, and we are very open to changing it. They would be similar, though. Would they be exactly the same? I can't say yet.

Q. When in werewolf form, will players face the same social obstacles as vampires as far as being limited to the number of people they can speak with and such?

A. When you are in werewolf form, it is way worse. The vampire thing is more subtle. When you are a werewolf, they see you coming. You are big scary creature in the world, and it's another level up from vampire as far as pandemonium, and I think it should be.

Q. Will werewolf characters be able to assume multiple forms, like changing into a complete wolf instead of a half-man, half-wolf creature?

A. No.

Q. Is the Eye of the Wolf ability for werewolves a "power"? What does it do?

A. It is similar to a global detection. We may mix it in with the "night eye" ability because we have some quests where we want you to be in the dark.

Q. Do werewolves obtain some sort of enhanced attacks like a biting lunge, slam attack or tackle?

A. No, it is kind of a modified hand to hand. They are hand attacks, but they do damage. You can't use your inventory when you're a werewolf, you can't pick things up, and can't use weapons. You are running around maiming things. But then you will have powers you can use.

Q. When fighting as a werewolf, do the character's unarmed skills and unarmored skills increase accordingly?

A. That is a really good question, whether you get skill gains. I am not sure . . . we shall see. I would say we would lean toward them not getting a skill raise as a werewolf because in the class system you are becoming a better warrior. We want to kind of treat this like you are going to play a different character, so using that paradigm, your skills might not increase.

Q. Is it possible to use weapons or spells at all when in werewolf form?

A. There are spells that we give you, but you won't be able to use your old ones. They are like powers. But you can't use any items . . . Some of that we'll off set with powers. Right now it's kind of a thing where the powers are in flux. I think it does have a regenerative ability.

Q. When players are werewolves, do their external skins change?

A. Yeah. They look like a wolf. That werewolf wallpaper we have on our Web site? That is what you look like.

Q. Will it be possible to be a werewolf and a vampire at the same time?

A. I don't believe so, but it might be. I honestly don't know what the resolution on that one was.

Q. Bloodmoon is set on an island north of Vvardenfell - will players only be able to access it by boat, or are there alternate ways to get there?

A. The main way to get there is by boat by one of the cities up there, which I believe is Khuul. You could probably swim there.

Q. How long has Bloodmoon been under development?

A. We started right after we finished "Tribunal." When we finished Morrowind, we decided we wanted to do expansions. We felt "Tribunal" was the best extension of "Morrowind" as the first expansion because it addressed some loose threads concerning the gods. For the second we wanted to do something that looked different and played different. At first we had three words for Bloodmoon: Nord. Snow. Werewolf. Then as "Tribunal was finished, we fleshed it out in the end of October. So it's been in development since November.

Q. Is the island of Solstheim (where Bloodmoon occurs) larger, smaller or about the same in size as the combined amount of virtual real estate in the Tribunal expansion?

A. It is much bigger. We are usually against throwing out an exact number or size, but if you saw the map . . . it is substantial. It is probably one-fifth the size of the main island in Morrowind. It is BIG. In the coming weeks we will release a screen shot of were it is on the map. It has a lot of wilderness exploration and dungeons. One of the comments we got about "Tribunal" was that it didn't have wilderness exploration. This place looks so different that exploration is a new type of thing. There is snow, we have ice over this big lake. There is a big Imperial fort. There is a mining colony being built, and there are two smaller villages you can run into. It has that same feel of Morrowind's main game.

Q. Bloodmoon adds the new functionality already in "Tribunal" like the revised journal and map; are there any new game-play enhancements? For example, the ability to sort and rename spells in the spell list or the ability to write in notes within the journal?

A. No. All of our reprogramming efforts were focusing on the werewolf stuff, which requires a lot of specific programming. There have been bug fixes and minor optimizations, too.

Q. Are there any new guilds, groups or associations that players can join?

A. Yes, the mining colony is a faction, so that is something where you can gain rank and get benefits. That was inspired by "Morrowind" when you got to build the stronghold. The mining colony gets built, and you get decide some things.

Q. Are there any missions for the Blades in Bloodmoon?

A. No.

Q. Are there any encounters with the Sixth House cult?

A. Nope.

Q. Will Bloodmoon add local area network or Internet playing capabilities?

A. Yeah, absolutely. Ha, I am just kidding, no. It's just that we get asked that all of the time.

Q. Are there any changes to the combat system?

A. Not really, no.

Q. Will Bloodmoon add the ability for characters to wield a weapon in each hand?

A. No.

Q. Will Bloodmoon add any new character skins or enhance the ones already in the game?

A. Um, I believe there are some new heads for NPCs but no new races or things like.

Q. Any dragons in the expansion?

A. No (laughing).

Q. Are there any new spell effects?

A. Well, the werewolf stuff has new spells but nothing of note.

Q. Will there be mercenaries to hire or pack animals to buy, similar to "Tribunal"?

A. There are some similar things not exactly the same.

Q. Are there mounts that players can ride, like horses or dog sleds?

A. No.

Q. Are there any high-level character killers like Gaenor the wood elf in Tribunal?

A. Not to his level, no. I would say there are fights that are as tough but not as many. It's a little more leveled and a little more friendlier to a level 10 guy. The boss creatures are still hard. Gaenor was like a joke that went too far. His luck is off the scale, which made him excellent at everything, but we kept him in because you can avoid him because he's in a large area, and you can go through "Tribunal" without having to deal with him.

Q. Did the cliff racers make it out to this new island?

A. No, it is definitely too cold for them.

Q. Is there any new music?

A. No.

Q. How many new lines of voice dialogue is in the expansion?

A. There is a lot. That is what we tried to do in "Tribunal" . . . We want the people playing to hear out loud about how they feel about you . . . I thought it worked well.

Q. Does Bloodmoon make any changes to Vvardenfell proper that people who have modified their games should be worried about?

A. No, no. You can go back there and be a werewolf, so we have made some dialogue changes to deal with that. We want to keep Vvardenfell intact. I know some people may have built landed masses where "Bloodmoon" takes place, and "Bloodmoon" destroys those. When you have an editor out there, who knows what people are going to do.

Q. Some fans have said they wanted animated, flowing cloaks. Did that make it into Bloodmoon?

A. No. I mean, that is actually a giant problem because of all the different shapes of armor.

Q. Other players say they want more gore. Will "Bloodmoon" add the ability to tweak the amount of animated blood and guts?

A. No, no it is going to remain a teen game. I think the animations look better for how some things get hit or fall down, but there is no splatter or gibbing.

Q. Are there any major changes to casual NPC behavior, like them sitting in chairs or going to sleep in their beds?

A. No, they don't do that stuff. That is fairly complicated at this stage, to have them interact at that level. The mining colony that gets built lets some people come and go, so that adds some extra activity.

Q. Both "Bloodmoon" and "Tribunal" are PC-only expansions; Will there ever be an expansion pack for the Xbox, and is it even possible to make one?

A. That won't happen. It is not something technically that we can do. Since "Morrowind" was released, Microsoft has come up with various ways to add content to a game on Xbox using Xbox Live, but at this stage these "Morrowind" expansions are a PC-only thing. It's kind of an accepted practice. You can't go to a store and buy a console expansion pack for any game . . . "Morrowind" has done really well on Xbox. We'd like to find a way to support them.

Q. Is Bethesda working on another expansion to the "Elder Scrolls III" series besides "Bloodmoon"?

A. I couldn't say. Everything is up in the air.

Q. Is Bethesda working on an "Elder Scrolls IV"?

A. I couldn't say. We always have ideas, but you know us, we take forever.