| weɪfərskɪt |
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Joined: November 15th, 2003, 11:22 am Posts: 20,532 Location: Pinwheel Galaxy
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 Hello again, First we want to thank everyone who submitted questions in this topic, you all had some really good questions and I'm sure Mod Chris L enjoyed writing responses to them.  We also want to thank Jagex for giving us this opportunity to interview their staff, we really look forward to any future interviews with Jagex! ALSO! Check out the Within The Light concept art that Jagex sent us! RuneVillage Within The Light Interview with Jagex - Mod Chris LPyro3000: What other names were considered?
»Mod Chris L: I originally pitched this quest as “The Path to Prifddinas”, with the backup name “Within the Light”. Whilst I quite liked The Path to Prifddinas, we didn’t chose it as it might have gotten players hopes up a little to much for actually gaining access to the city on the quest. Luckily, Mod Mark really liked Within the Light, so we went with that.
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DragonCrusher1: Was there any particular reasoning behind naming the quest "Within The Light"?
»Mod Chris L: The final pillar in the temple of light is energised by the players effort in Mournings end part II. It has Red, Blue and Green light shot into to solve the Temple of Light. In the next quest, following this pillars activation, the player energises and goes within the light itself where the same three beams carry on – That’s where I orginally got the name from.
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Scar: How far along in the series are we, or is the end not yet planned?
»Mod Chris L: Excluding Catapult Construction, Within the Light makes quest number 8 of this storyline. I have a very clear idea of what I see as “the end” and believe that there maybe 1 or 2 more to come.
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Ericteg: We finally had a use for the coloured wheel, can I conclude that this new puzzle was already thought of in MEP 2?
»Mod Chris L: The coloured wheel was meant to be used in the exact same manner in ME:II! I wanted to keep the new puzzle in line with the previous elven puzzles, so re-used the colour wheel as well.
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Ericteg: Will the next part in this series, as this was a kind of 'story-telling' quest, be anywhere reasonably close to us?
»Mod Chris L: If you asked this question in regards to when you’ll see the next elf quest ingame - It’s out of my hands, but we had the all clear for graphical resource, I’d happily start on the next one as soon as I could.
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Ericteg: With all these new developments, will we ever see the long-anticipated city of Prifddinas?
»Mod Chris L: Yes 
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Huntx: The elf series of quests has always been the widespread favorite of many, especially high-leveled players (as the requirements are getting higher and higher for each new quest in the series). That said, will the opportunity be taken to release new high-leveled armor/weapons within future installments in this quest storyline?
»Mod Chris L: I can’t really say, but I definitely agree, and will certain pitch something along these lines - If I had my way, I wouldn’t stop with just armour and weapons though 
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Guess I 0wn: what is the final pillar?
»Mod Chris L: As kind of touched on in a previous question - it is the only pillar in the Temple that light can merge in without the need of a tinting crystal. It was left as hint of what was to come in regards to mixing light..
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Goten: Is there a chance that the teleport crystal used to teleport to the Temple of Light during the quest can become obtainable after the quest is completed? As of now, the need for Mourner gear to kill Dark Beasts is a huge hindrance. With the ability to teleport into the tunnel during the quest, many high-level Slayers may choose not to finish the quest simply to make use of the teleport.
»Mod Chris L: You’ll be seeing this soon
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Goten: Will the next quest in the Elf series be in development any time soon? I think it's safe to say that the Plague questline is one of the most popular, if not *the* most popular, questline in RuneScape, and many players are eager to see where it leads.
»Mod Chris L: I touched on this in a previous question. As a player myself, I can totally agree about the questline’s popularity and I would like nothing more than to start on the next installment right now. There are other projects and the like that require just as must attention and resource though.
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Goten: Was the possible release of the Crystal Halberd considered during the development of this quest? Players have been waiting years for the release of this weapon ever since Ilfeen stated she'd been trying to "get the melody right," and it's become a largely anticipated Elven quest reward.
»Mod Chris L: It was considered, but due to the length of time between ME:II and this quest, we wanted to mainly draw players back to the storyline, refresh memories and the like, rather than focusing on item rewards. The Crystal Halberd certainly hasn’t been forgotten and as I touched on before, I’d like to include more than just one item when “chanting” is expanded so-to speak.
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Goten: When you enter the room with the light puzzle, you find a Dead Slave's corpse. When you search the corpse, you find a knife, hatchet, color wheel, and set of notes implying that he died from starvation. The corpse itself, however, lays in a pile of blood. This implies that the slave didn't die from starvation, but was wounded somehow. Was this simply an oversight by the developers, or did he slit his own throat to escape the slow death of starvation?
»Mod Chris L: What a poor guy eh? As you may know, solving a certain puzzle shows you that there is more up above than just more tree. This guy looked up and saw the same thing, but tried a more hands-on approach to getting up there. Unfortunately, as his note says.. his strength left him, along with his grip.
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Goten: During the quest, the player makes a promise to speak to the Head Mourner about granting the gnome his freedom. However, actually speaking to the Head Mourner is not required to progress further into the quest, and upon completion of the quest it is no longer possible to speak with him about freeing the gnome. In either case, the Gnome remains unfreed, which upset many players for failing to keep their word. Is there still a chance that he will be set free later in the storyline?
»Mod Chris L: This was deliberate. Usually, if quests have a good/evil decision, you are on the path of good by default. Here, this is reversed and whilst you “give him your word”, you can just leave him and not make good on your promise. This time, you have to actively be “good”… After all, its not like it takes a lot to walk into the next room for a quick chat with the head mourner is it?
The gnome remains unfreed regardless, but his future is definitely effected by your choice here, as he gets quite vocal about after all is said and done! There isn’t a plan to reverse this in the next quest, so for now, the gnome will have to suffer the consequences of your actions… and this isn’t the first time during this quest series that you’ve made a decision that has an effect on him.
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Goten: In relation to the gnome, two Janitors are added to the Gnome's cell room after the completion of Within the Light. These janitors are supposedly human, meaning they're not part of the Dark Elf conspiracy. Have these janitors paid any mind to the gnome being in relatively good health despite the vicious plague supposedly contaminating the air?
»Mod Chris L: Following their new change of location, the S & S cleaning company is making more money down here cleaning up for the mourners. Whilst the gnomes condition may seem stable, I doubt they’d risk their wealth by removing their gasmasks – as Scotty might tell you himself.
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Goten: When journeying through the Temple of Light with Arianwyn, he 1-hits any Shadows he sees with his Crystal Bow. What's his Ranged level, and where does he find the time to train so many skills? I can only assume he's equally proficient in Elven Magic, and is a master Chanter as well.
»Mod Chris L: He didn’t become leader of the resistance by standing in Lletya all day doing nothing (although he does a good job of that most days), you’re right to assume he’s no newcomer to all combat. Elves are especially into their ranged combat, and Arianwyn is at the top of his game, not that he needs a skillcape to show off.
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Goten: Elven Magic is mentioned by Arianwyn during the quest. Is there a possibility of an Elven Spellbook being release at some point in the questline? Regardless of your answer, what types of spells does Elven Magic consist of? Lunar Magics are more support-type spells while Ancient Magics are destructive types, so does Elven magic focus on a specific element of use as well?
»Mod Chris L: As you’ve said, I can’t really answer this, but don’t think I’ve not thought on it. Elven magic is largely stored in Crystal seeds, which are a product of chanting, so there are very close ties there which I’d like to explore in the future.
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Wouterk: On the day of the release you said the following on the RSOF:
"As some of you have gathered, it isn't meant to be super-difficult (although there is something about the puzzle that no-one has mentioned yet...)" Has anyone mentioned it by now? I've been searching on the forums and heard many people speculating about it. Could you please give an other hint? what do we have to look for? has it something to do with the ring of visibility? Please clarify! I can't stand the curiosity anymore!! 
»Mod Chris L: Ok, I have to confess to this one – I think the comment was mis-interpreted as I was referring to the light puzzle technically, rather than actual hidden content (which now plagues my thoughts on how to get some in). What I was saying about that was most people I had chatted with didn’t realise the light puzzle is random. The 4 switches to unlock are not in the same location for everyone, so some people might have a bit of trouble trying it if they used a quest guide… I’ve already seen a few quest guides published with incorrect instructions!
Without spoiling anything, I’ll certainly try and hide something next time for you guys
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Wouterk: Is the 'aura' around our character after the death altar charge a teaser of the runetek 5 engine capabilities? (bloom/particle effect) Or was this effect already possible with the previous runetek version?
»Mod Chris L: It would have been possible before RuneTek 5, but it is still a clever bit of animation and timing, which I thought would be possible to make look good, so I created it for that part of the quest
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Emmen: Is the "Iestin" who signed the Prifddinas Report the same NPC as mentioned in a book called Edern's Journal? In that book an Iestin identified as a scholar researching the Prifddinas under-city and the Grand Library (and brother of Edern).
»Mod Chris L: I’m glad someone picked up on this You’d be right in that assumption.
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Emmen: Prifddinas has been empty ever since it was created and nobody was ever sure if it would be filled with buildings. Were you told to explain why this was during the quest, or did it just come about naturally as you developed the storyline?
»Mod Chris L: Great question – When I was first told I’d be doing the next elven quest, I naturally thought to Prifddinas. Although as graphical time for this quest was a limit, I wanted to explain about prifddinas in it. From knowledge of the elves and how their crystal systems work, it would have been possible for powerful elves to revert it to crystal, just like other elven objects.
I wanted to make this part of the storyline as I felt, after seeing the blank fields there for years, it would be a little underwhelming to have the city suddenly pop up after a game update. Taking the story in this direction allows the player to be witness to the absence (and ultimately rebirth) of an entire city they have been working towards.
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Emmen: When did you pick up this storyline and how long did it take to develop Within The Light?
»Mod Chris L: When I joined the content team from QA earlier this year, I mentioned that the elves were one of my favourite parts of RuneScape, and as a high leveled player I’d love to see or drive that storyline onwards after it had been dormant for so long - shortly after I was elven curator! Within the Light took me around two months to make. (It was spread out whilst waiting for Graphics to be built and I had other things on the go too, such as the High level Agility project).
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Emmen: Now that you have re-started this awesome storyline, are you going to work to a set amount of quests until it is complete or is that yet unknown?
»Mod Chris L: I envision one or two quests more until we see a definitive “end” point, however that is all down to how big I’m allowed to make one quest! (and how much time I can have allocated to do it).
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Zurielslove: Will the elven camp be updated this year? "Within the Light" is obviously related to Prifddinas and Prifddinas has been dead content waiting to be updated for the players. The elven camp has been there for years and it should be time to have a purpose. "Release of Prifddinas and Christmas event would be nice. Little elves with Santa hats. (Santa's workers)"
»Mod Chris L: I don’t think there is plans for an elven graphical rework as of yet. As for santa hats, we’ve deliberately tried to keep such comical/seasonal humour away from the elves as they hold such prestige within the game and doing something like that would devalue their prestige.
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Swedishskinjer: Will the developer of Within the Light be developing the next installment in the elf series? Is there any rough outline for how many more quests will be in this particular series?
»Mod Chris L: Yes, I’ll be working on the next installments and as I’ve mentioned above, I can see 1 or 2 more quests to come.
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Swedishskinjer: Are there any plans to make an upcoming installment of the elf series Grandmaster?
»Mod Chris L: Oh yes!
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Swedishskinjer: Why was this quest so short? Will the upcoming ones be a bit more challenging?
»Mod Chris L: Definitely – In regards to length, this was meant to be a refresher quest for the storyline and to bridge the gap about why the Death guard were so interested in the Death altar. If you follow the quest series on a map, it all culminates in the death altar, which was a dead-end. Within the Light is a bridge quest that was to refresh the players and show them why this area was so important for the secret path it had within it.
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Swedishskinjer: In Within the Light, a relationship is established between the dwarves and elves to access the under-city. Did the developer do this to possibly hint at a future alliance between dwarves and elves, due to the contributions of the dwarf race in accessing this city?
»Mod Chris L: Thorgel and his men have been with this plotline since the Underground pass, hence they’ve been loyal to the player and the elven cause, they are already in alliance and both seek their homelands. If Prifddinas returns, I’m sure the dwarven relations will not be forgotten.
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Swedishskinjer: Could we expect to see some more of Lord Iowerth/King Lathas in installments of the elf series after Within the Light? Is a huge finale being considered for what is arguably the longest-running series in the game?
»Mod Chris L: Yes, Maybe and Definitely!
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n00b 4 m1nin: Will there be a Priffindas teleport?
»Mod Chris L: I can’t say what content will be made, but I’d certainly include something like teleport locations.
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dustin: Do you think that Runescape has became too complicated?
»Mod Chris L: RuneScape in general? For me, not really, but I have been playing for a long time now. For a new player I think they may find it overwhelming, but that is because there is so much to do due to the freedom and amount of skills the game has to offer. Whilst some parts of RuneScape are complicated, I’d like to think those parts are understandable if you try, or if you are introduced to them “later on” in your RuneScape playtime (such as not getting a complicated Light temple puzzle in Sheep Shearer!)
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That's gonna make Dark Beast tasks so much easier. The part about the light puzzle being random in the quest makes me sad though... You have no idea what a pain it was trying to keep track of every step I did while writing our guide. 
