Life is Feudal Official Forum

[Veli]

Hope this is relevant place to ask. New to the community and excited about the game.

After reading game info, I came up with some questions on gameplay, which is crucial for me as a person who has been waiting for a second UO for quite a bit now. And yes, the reference to UO looks obvious here. It also depends on whether the main developer was an OSI player or Sphere/POL player, but then again, so far I like what I have read.

Anyway, I would like to know more about the initial gameplay or if following aspects of the game will be present in LiF. So, please, only 100 % information. I am not interested in suggestions (why would I ask if I could simply go to the suggestion sub-forum, right?) nor am I interested in guesses, ideas, or plans for the game. I am interested in a 100% information so players, random trolls, limited devs - don't bother writing. I need information from the main developer or a person who has enough voice in the developing team, a person who knows the course of the game. This is important for me because I've been waiting for UO2 for a long time and, unfortunately, SotA, while still looks promising, does not offer enough to be called UO2, especially because of its Trammie PvP and no full loot. So, introduction aside, here are my questions to the dev:

1. How "feudalism" or a system of medieval caste/social rankings will be actually portrayed in game? Will players actually belong to various social classes, according to the medieval history - serfs, feudal lords, knights/manors, villages/cities etc. Or will the gameplay be more individualistic just like in most other MMO's i.e. a player starts a character, trains his/her skills and basically that's it. No social hierarchy, and age-old "what now?" point. And also, if there will be any social hierarchy in game, how will players be able to actually use it? Such as, you start the game as a serf/no class citizen and later can climb up to the [specific rank/caste/office].

2. Guilds. Any unique ideas for guilds? Will it be something primitive such as the rank, name above the head or will guilds actually have some structure and real aim? There are plenty of articles on medieval guild system, it was more than a bunch of people with the same goal, guilds conducted trading/economic policies, dealt with taxes etc. So, will there be specific warrior/merchant guilds and how will the game system benefit guilds? Basically what are the guilds in LiF?

3. Politics. Similar to my first questions. I've read about players being involved in warfare campaigns (wars between the countries), therefore, will there be some state-based hierarchy? Like Kings and their feudal lords who represent them? Laws and law-making?

4. How will economy work? Will there be supply/demand? Also, will there be static NPC's who have certain goods and have static price on them or will economy be strictly player based? Any rare resources which can only be harvested in dangerous areas? Also, will guilds/people with power be able to control state's resources such as forests, rivers, seas, mines, fields etc.? Or will resources be up to anybody to consume/harvest? I ask this because it can actually prevent future bots grinding for resources at the early stage and later in-game. It can simply create a big difference if states could control areas including resources and impose taxes on trade/travel/etc. (depending on state's policy). BUT it should not limited players sandbox experience, which means, if a state or a guild decides to ban certain resource or impose heavy taxes on harvesting or basically anything possible, players should STILL be able to do it and evade the taxes, rules, and regulations but in their own risk. Such as a crafter, who does not pay the guild loan can be jailed, heavily fined, or even outlawed/banned from the city he is working at. Similarly, a group of miners can secretly mine iron or other resources from the territory, which belongs to the King, as long as they don't get caught by the guards, militia or simply random snitches.

4. Religion. Will there be any religious aspect in the game? Such as faith, altars, temples? Religion could actually affect one's notoriety, reputation, and alignment. I've read few posts on alignment and it basically says that there will be evil players, neutral, and law-abiding ones. Evil ones are mostly PK's. I've also read the post which states that you cannot go past -50 alignment, once evil always evil. Perhaps religion could somehow affect it so evil players could pray their sins out or tithe/donate to the religious institution to raise his/her reputation etc.

This is basically it. I might come with new questions, however, I would really want to discuss this for now. What is dev team's attitude towards the above ideas. Are there any real plans regarding this or at least any ideas which are similar, but not exactly like what I've written.

Thank you

[Saxxon]

Many of your questions have already been answered here http://lifeisfeudal.com/forum/interactive-faq-t3/.

If you can't find a particular answer feel free to post one in that thread and you can get an answer directly from the main developer.

[Veli]

Many of your questions have already been answered here http://lifeisfeudal.com/forum/interactive-faq-t3/.

If you can't find a particular answer feel free to post one in that thread and you can get an answer directly from the main developer.

Simply directing me to the 25+ pages long post, is it what I've asked for? I spent time constructing my post, please spend time replying to it. I think I made it clear I am not interested in somebody who does not have any voice in development answering my post.

My questions still stand. There are many small, one-line questions in the post, my questions are far more detailed and I expect detailed answers on them. Please do not bother redirecting me anywhere. I would not start this thread if I've already got precise answers on what I am interested in. Since I made this thread, spent time writing it, all questions are still relevant.

[LordTirthalion]

1. Short answer: Yes

However, probably not in the form of actual in game mechanics. We know there are mechanics for small claims, we also know that settlements are able to lay the law of the land for any piece of property that lie within its realms borders. And beyond that as well, we have Kingdoms which is a network of many realms. How exactly the functions work on an organizational level in game have yet to really be released -- and being pre-alpha right now, may not even be entirely implemented.

What I can say on this is the developers have made it pretty clear that the tools and resources will be available to people to decide these things for themselves. There is nothing stopping you from creating a Kingdom, and making the laws of how your realm is operated. It will depend on what work you as a player put in to it.

I myself am making a guild emphasizing on role play and immersion which will follow the structure similar to Western Europe during Middle Ages.



2. Again, this is totally up to the players. How much depth, and what sort of goals your guild aims to achieve ultimately revolves around how much effort you as a player put into it. The options are limitless so long as you put the work into organizing it and see that a certain structure is followed.

3. See above. I'm beginning to question whether the word sandbox is lost upon you, hehehe... Politics are determined by the players, and are built by the players. This game will have very little in terms of PVE. You won't be fighting for a scripted nation, with goals and story written and told by lines and lines of code.

The politics are real, lively, and can be shifted because everything in this game is generated by the playerbase.

4. Economy is entirely player driven... that said I can not say for certain whether this will be the case for the NPC city which serves as a starting hub like Wurm. I imagine there will be shopsellers there that will be selling primitive supplies.

While it has been confirmed by Bobik that ore resources will be distributed pretty evenly across the regions, there will however be a dynamic ecosystem where you may have to go to certain regions to find a certain kinds of resources. Because of this, there will be a supply and demand, a cause for war, or alliances, and trading agreements.

And trading will be done in real time, which will have the need for armed escorts to deliver supplies. No magical auction houses.

5. I can't actually speak on that yet. There was the talk of at some point implementing it that so players can make their own religion...

There really isn't anything stopping you from organizing your own which I have already done for Baldoria.

Whether we will have the ability to see in game affects such as blessings, curses or religious abilities played out in game mechanics is yet to be seen or confirmed. I know Bobik has said he would maybe like to do it, but it is not on the current list of priorities.

I hope these answers were of some help to you.


ALSO

Developers do not have the time to answer every question and reply to every post that is made on this forum. And though they do a pretty awesome job of communicating with this community, they have made the FAQ, and passed this information on to its fan base for this very reason.

[Veli]

Thanks for your answers.

3. See above. I'm beginning to question whether the word sandbox is lost upon you, hehehe... Politics are determined by the players, and are built by the players. This game will have very little in terms of PVE. You won't be fighting for a scripted nation, with goals and story written and told by lines and lines of code.

I know what sandbox is and I completely agree, however, if some local lord decides, for fun sake, to introduce curfew law that players could not walk/trade in a city during the night time, he cannot enforce it unless there are NPC guards to do it. While I believe there will be NPC guards who will enforce some sort of laws in cities, such as if somebody attacks you or tries to steal from you (not sure if stealing will be implemented either), then guards surely won't be able to watch people not walk during the night time because they are not programmed for it, there won't be in-game options for a lord to set the guards alert awareness and conditions.

I believe the best sandbox experience is a lot of micro-mechanics which are entirely up to player to use/exploit i.e. there are NO safe zones where you cannot be physically attacked, but instead there are zones of high guard awareness so attacking somebody takes way more skill and organization than it would in a wild area. That's sandbox.

[LordTirthalion]

Thanks for your answers.

3. See above. I'm beginning to question whether the word sandbox is lost upon you, hehehe... Politics are determined by the players, and are built by the players. This game will have very little in terms of PVE. You won't be fighting for a scripted nation, with goals and story written and told by lines and lines of code.

I know what sandbox is and I completely agree, however, if some local lord decides, for fun sake, to introduce curfew law that players could not walk/trade in a city during the night time, he cannot enforce it unless there are NPC guards to do it. While I believe there will be NPC guards who will enforce some sort of laws in cities, such as if somebody attacks you or tries to steal from you (not sure if stealing will be implemented either), then guards surely won't be able to watch people not walk during the night time because they are not programmed for it, there won't be in-game options for a lord to set the guards alert awareness and conditions.

I believe the best sandbox experience is a lot of micro-mechanics which are entirely up to player to use/exploit i.e. there are NO safe zones where you cannot be physically attacked, but instead there are zones of high guard awareness so attacking somebody takes way more skill and organization than it would in a wild area. That's sandbox.

That is a very interesting idea you have there, which I never really considered. There has not been much to any confirmation yet as to whether there will be NPC guardsmen for settlement. Its been in the talks, similar to NPC towers they had in Wurm... I think even that though, may end up being player driven. Another thing to consider too, is that there will only be one server or rather, server cluster as of right now.

Curfew laws certainly could be enforced by a well enough organized guild, but when your accounting to the fact that there are many people from different parts of the world and different peak times, that is a hard thing to enforce and itself may discourage the devs to script something like that.

[Veli]

ALSO

Developers do not have the time to answer every question and reply to every post that is made on this forum. And though they do a pretty awesome job of communicating with this community, they have made the FAQ, and passed this information on to its fan base for this very reason.

Yes but the FAQ topic which I was directed to dates back to 2011 and most questions are too dated to be considered serious. During such a large time gap a lot of concept could have changed many times therefore many answers there might not be relevant anymore. What I was looking for when making this thread was CURRENT answers, current concept, seeing the game is already in pre-alpha. I am not interested in something which has been discussed months/years ago as that is a subject to change over time.

Thanks for your answers.

Curfew laws certainly could be enforced by a well enough organized guild, but when your accounting to the fact that there are many people from different parts of the world and different peak times, that is a hard thing to enforce and itself may discourage the devs to script something like that.

This and the fact that no player will do something routine as that without any payment or other sort of beneficial stimulus. Therefore enforcement here can only be referred to global in-game activities such as wars between realms, keep sieges etc. But definitely not mico-enforcement such as tax collection or local law enforcement etc. I already heard that tax payment will be automatic as it is unlikely to make players collect taxes themselves plus considering the fact that it is the game and every player acts as if he is behind the screen not the real life would make this procedure very painful. Such as, in real life we pay taxes otherwise we will meet consequences such as fines or jail sentence, and we don't usually question authority. In game it is different as there are no real consequences aside from psychological. So a player may easily say his governor to "gtfo" when he asks for his weekly payment. Also a player may simply be afk or not play the game for a while due to real life reasons or because of the timezone difference so collecting a tax from him without NPC involvement (such as every house/manor/city/village could have their NPC representatives which would collect all the information regarding the income of the citizen/village and therefore would pay the tax in case a player is absent physically etc.).

[Saxxon]

Simply directing me to the 25+ pages long post, is it what I've asked for? I spent time constructing my post, please spend time replying to it. I think I made it clear I am not interested in somebody who does not have any voice in development answering my post.

My questions still stand. There are many small, one-line questions in the post, my questions are far more detailed and I expect detailed answers on them. Please do not bother redirecting me anywhere. I would not start this thread if I've already got precise answers on what I am interested in. Since I made this thread, spent time writing it, all questions are still relevant.

Here is the first statement you made.

Hope this is relevant place to ask.

This is the relevant place to ask http://lifeisfeudal.com/forum/interactive-faq-t3/.

Here is another statement you made.

I think I made it clear I am not interested in somebody who does not have any voice in development answering my post.

If you want a dev to answer post your questions in this thread http://lifeisfeudal.com/forum/interactive-faq-t3/.

The reason this thread exists is because there are 16333 people just like you registered to this website.

Total posts 11959 • Total topics 1006 • Total members 16334

[OO_Zoe]

Simply directing me to the 25+ pages long post, is it what I've asked for? I spent time constructing my post, please spend time replying to it. I think I made it clear I am not interested in somebody who does not have any voice in development answering my post.

My questions still stand. There are many small, one-line questions in the post, my questions are far more detailed and I expect detailed answers on them. Please do not bother redirecting me anywhere. I would not start this thread if I've already got precise answers on what I am interested in. Since I made this thread, spent time writing it, all questions are still relevant.

Here is the first statement you made.

Hope this is relevant place to ask.

This is the relevant place to ask http://lifeisfeudal.com/forum/interactive-faq-t3/.

Here is another statement you made.

I think I made it clear I am not interested in somebody who does not have any voice in development answering my post.

If you want a dev to answer post your questions in this thread http://lifeisfeudal.com/forum/interactive-faq-t3/.

The reason this thread exists is because there are 16333 people just like you registered to this website.

Total posts 11959 • Total topics 1006 • Total members 16334

Get em!

[Cunk]

Haha. That sense of entitlement is precious.

[LordTirthalion]

ALSO

Developers do not have the time to answer every question and reply to every post that is made on this forum. And though they do a pretty awesome job of communicating with this community, they have made the FAQ, and passed this information on to its fan base for this very reason.

Yes but the FAQ topic which I was directed to dates back to 2011 and most questions are too dated to be considered serious. During such a large time gap a lot of concept could have changed many times therefore many answers there might not be relevant anymore. What I was looking for when making this thread was CURRENT answers, current concept, seeing the game is already in pre-alpha. I am not interested in something which has been discussed months/years ago as that is a subject to change over time.

Thanks for your answers.

Curfew laws certainly could be enforced by a well enough organized guild, but when your accounting to the fact that there are many people from different parts of the world and different peak times, that is a hard thing to enforce and itself may discourage the devs to script something like that.

This and the fact that no player will do something routine as that without any payment or other sort of beneficial stimulus. Therefore enforcement here can only be referred to global in-game activities such as wars between realms, keep sieges etc. But definitely not mico-enforcement such as tax collection or local law enforcement etc. I already heard that tax payment will be automatic as it is unlikely to make players collect taxes themselves plus considering the fact that it is the game and every player acts as if he is behind the screen not the real life would make this procedure very painful. Such as, in real life we pay taxes otherwise we will meet consequences such as fines or jail sentence, and we don't usually question authority. In game it is different as there are no real consequences aside from psychological. So a player may easily say his governor to "gtfo" when he asks for his weekly payment. Also a player may simply be afk or not play the game for a while due to real life reasons or because of the timezone difference so collecting a tax from him without NPC involvement (such as every house/manor/city/village could have their NPC representatives which would collect all the information regarding the income of the citizen/village and therefore would pay the tax in case a player is absent physically etc.).

I am pretty sure the devs answered in the FAQ that taxes are an actual game mechanic system that are unavoidable if you join that realm or Kingdom. Personally, I didn't care for this, because I like the idea of micromanaging certain aspects of the realm through actual gameplay.

As for what you said earlier, I plan to do just that. Give people real reasons to fulfill these jobs. Yes, you're right... if you want someone to do something you'll have to pay them. So give them a reason to work for you. It may be true that serfs and peasants didn't really get a lump of gold for their services, but they got other things. Food, shelther, equipment. It is just as much a Lord's duty to take care of his people, as it is for his people to serve him.

"Not all that is gold, glitters." - Gandalf the Grey ( J.R.R. Tolkien )

Give people incentive, and I think you can probably pull off all the things you desire to see in this game. Again, maybe not the easy way... but Easy does not always equal fun.

[Veli]

As for what you said earlier, I plan to do just that. Give people real reasons to fulfill these jobs. Yes, you're right... if you want someone to do something you'll have to pay them. So give them a reason to work for you. It may be true that serfs and peasants didn't really get a lump of gold for their services, but they got other things. Food, shelther, equipment. It is just as much a Lord's duty to take care of his people, as it is for his people to serve him.

"Not all that is gold, glitters." - Gandalf the Grey ( J.R.R. Tolkien )

Give people incentive, and I think you can probably pull off all the things you desire to see in this game. Again, maybe not the easy way... but Easy does not always equal fun.

Still, without the certain micromanagement not all things are possible. Obviously, there cannot be everything within one realm, just saying. You need sand (mechanics) in order to build the sandcastle (gameplay) and the more there is the sand, the wider/larger castle you can build.