When is the next beta scheduled? Have invites been sent already?
Vuuar : We already sent 600 invites to guilds and through contests. We prefer continuing to stabilize the server before open to the other 5000 people.

The combat system can make or break a game’s popularity. Could you describe how typical combat will proceed?
Vuuar : Combat system looks like some other ones, but we have some particularities in DnL, especially with aerial fights :)

What about the 1st expansion that the FAQ is talking about? New races?
Vuuar : In fact, we aim at releasing only 9 races in April. Fairies, Lutins and half Trolls won’t be there. Why ? Because thoses races are not really a problem for classes and because we can focus our dev power on other parts of the game. But it’s not sure, it depends on how development goes...

Do you have any info on the release date for the new, updated www.darkandlight.com site?
Ghede : The new beta phase took quite a lot of our work force, since we want to be present to answer new betatesters questions. But we’ve added some new faces in our team, and the new site should be there in about ten days. Their will be new sections, and we intend to combine the original .com and .net, along with those additions

Can paladins heal themselves?
Vuuar : Yep ;)

Can you have accidents when you craft something, and your shop goes up in flames (for crafting a super unique item)?
Vuuar : Yep, crafting can be dangerous, but your shop will be fine :)

There has been talk of explosives lately, such as gunpowder or similar alchemic mixtures. Will there be any form of explosives in DnL, and how will they be used?
Vuuar : There are lot of traps in DnL. You will be able to craft them. In fact traps are like spells that you can combine. When a foe comes near, traps can work... :)

Will players be able to make their own alloys?
Vuuar : No, for the moment you can’t make ingredients but you will be able to crafts some equipment with different ingredients, like mixes of ores.

How does the underwater system work? Will we be able to dive?
Vuuar : No underwater for the first release. Big fish will eat you :)

How many people will develop quests and/or events?
Vuuar : We will authorize some guilds to make quests under GM control. We actually work to finish the quest tool for AD. Ghede : About AD : We have 5 people working on Beta events in French and English. But this number will increase since we intend to do events in five languages, and mostly because we want our team to grow with the total number of players when the game is released. If we want to do a good job, we’ll have to be in a quite large number! ;)

Do you have any plans on some type of climbing skill? Climb walls perhaps?
Vuuar : Yes, people will be able to climb a ladder. That can help you for a wall ;)

How realistic is the April date for the release?
Vuuar : As realistic at this moment. For now, all is going well, we will see if nothing bad comes until then.

Will we have weapons with flaming effect?
Vuuar : Yes !

How do air battles work? Can two flying characters fight eachother? And two ships?
Vuuar : You can fight with dragons or others mounts, 2 flying characters, and of course a flying one vs a ground one.

How much use will be made of watercraft and especially ships as well as canoes and rafts?
Vuuar : No watercraft for now.

How many different flying mounts will there be?
Vuuar : It will depend on the time we will have for the release. But we will create more and more. We have to create one for girls, because girls aren’t really happy with dragons ;)

Will writing be a skill? Can we write letters, books etc. on pieces of paper?
Vuuar : Yep, you can learn how to write spells before you sell them.

Will it be possible to bury objects/corpses in the game?
Vuuar : This option isn’t in the game. Devs will kill me if I say yes.. ;)

Will different races speak different languages? Say a human listens to an elf; will he only see symbols instead of letters unless he knows the language?
Vuuar : I really want it. I already told the devs about it, it’s not really difficult to do, but it’s not in the top of their to do list. I have to work on that again.

In an old devchat, we were told that a skilltree was to be released soon. Will it be included in the new .com site?
Vuuar : Yes, the skills tree is finished for me, but I don’t really want to give it on the .com website I will give only general orientations.

Will the Gods "appear" and help players fight etc, in really rare situations?
Vuuar : I don’t really know how they will "appear", it will depend on graphic development but they will have an influence for sure.

Can Fairies only float or can they also fly high distances for a short time?
Vuuar : Why about fairies? We’re not even sure they will be at the rlease.;) Fairies can fly, but not as high as dragons and they have to watch their stamina...

There was talk of arenas in the forums and how this could be implemented so that people can control them. Are you thinking of putting arenas in game and will they be similar to this?
Vuuar : Arenas already exist, but we have to decide the rules. Perhaps GMs will organize some fights there.

Will there be a variation of colors on armors? Like a pink one for those who likes that?
Vuuar : Good news, yes !!

Will there be cities or areas up in the sky?
Vuuar : I can’t swear it, but... Perhaps...

How many players can take part in a large combat without BAD lag occuring?
Vuuar : The issue with large combat is more on client machine than on the server for the moment.We have to work and validate tests before we can answer it.

Can you play your own music, being a bard? Or do you have pre-recorded tunes?
Vuuar : Our devs love music. They asked me to change some game design to give you some surprises. So wait and see. I will be surprise :)

Since there are certain races that are going to be left out of release, will they be in as NPC’s?
Vuuar : Yep, they will exist as NPCs.

Is there any information on the agricultural aspect of the game? (growing crops,cattle etc)
Vuuar : It’s really more technical than we can think. So I don’t really think that it will be for the first release.

When will the alliance system be implemented? Same question for the flags, banners and logos...
Vuuar : All guilds systems will be implemented during the last massive test of the game. Guilds will really help us for that.

Can a pet be ressurected when it dies?
Vuuar : Yes for pets, no for your summons. It’s slightly different in DnL...

How will be divided combat experience for a group? Will it be evenly divided among group members, or based on damage inflicted by individual players?
Vuuar : A group works like a single person so all the experience is shared with others. But 2 characters not in the same group have to share xp in % of damages done, only when the monster dies.

Will the DnL soundtrack be available in stores?
Vuuar : Our artists will be happy about it, so why not.

In AC2, there is a way to "synchronise" the music when several persons play instruments. Will it be also possible in DnL?
Vuuar : The music system is not implemented yet and we will work on it with the devs.

When will we learn about skills and classes? (when faq will be updated)
Vuuar : At the end of the dev chat, the FAQ will be updated. But you will have to wait some more time for classes and skills. 3 more weeks, time to us to complete the form :)

Will there be an ingame appeal system for making requests to GameMasters?
Vuuar : AD will answer Ghede : We will have a tool to deal with it. You’ll be able to send us a request, that will be treated by the first GM avaible ... and since we plan on having a large number of GMs, it means quickly !

Is the "wanted" system a way to dissuade player killers, or will it become like a special kind of caste?
Vuuar : To dissuade playerkilling, the loss of god faction is better.. The wanted status is nice to give more challenge in game, and every player has to answer for his or her acts. For the special caste... wait and see... joker :)

Will deadly poisons be in the game? (really rare, of course)
Vuuar : For sure, and assassins will love them.

How much of game content (in %) is implemented in current beta?
Vuuar : Very little in fact... Because we implement our tools first.. For instance, for skills, I had created a special beta skills form to test the tool and now I can enter all my skills trees It will be the same for quests soon, it will leave economic and politic system tools to implement, but a lot of work is left for AD and us to fill quests etc. In this kind of game, tools are really more important.

Can faeries (when they’ll be in game) ride their own dragon, or an equivalent creature, for balancing purpose?
Vuuar : That’s why we don’t want to give faeries at the release :) In theory, we can do it but we don’t really know if it’s that good ;)

If you crouch and sit absolutely still in a snowstorm for, say, 20 minutes, will you be covered by snow?
Vuuar : If you are a fairy, for sure !!! I think lutins and gnomes too ;)

What kind of graphic update will you have before the release?
Vuuar : Volcano and swamps. That’s what I have in mind for now.

Are we likely to see any new in-game videos soon?
Vuuar : Those videos take time to do if we want to do them fine. That’s why we haven’t done more of them. But for sure AD wants to do some, I’m ok with this.

Will it be possible for player with different levels to play and XP together, but without favoring power leveling?
Vuuar : If the difference is too large, you will not be able to.

What happens when someone logs out in a combat?
Vuuar : I have to confirm with the devs if the action can be continued or not... I will answer that question in the FAQ with AD

What are the age restrictions for getting into Beta? Are any countries excluded, and if so why?
Vuuar : Philippe from AD said he was30 years old. He wants to make us bankrupt !! I don’t really know that. I have to ask to our lawyer ;)

Are the next batch of testers already selected, just not informed?
Vuuar : Not selected, because we have to choose them on their hardware configuration. For the moment you need a good system to be in. Optimization is in the works. It will be done not before February.

Will guilds be able to name one of their member as a diplomatic emissary? Will this special status be visible (special title or color)?
Vuuar : It is too early to answer this question, all guild systems will be implemented later in the beta, like I alredy said ;)

Will players be able to affect the weather or the terrain with spells?
Vuuar : Yes, druids can do some in relativly small area.

Will there be HUGE, almost impossible "myth" monsters that very few people will be able to get to? (sea-wyrms, balrogs, manticores, etc?)
Vuuar : Yes for sure.

Will the macro system allowing character activity to continue in offline mode be available at release?
Vuuar : I think I have to confirm with the devs. But macros will not be as we initially wanted at the release, it is more technical than we previously thought, because server technology had a high impact on it.

Can we have illustrations representing the gods as their followers imagine them on the web site?
Vuuar : I will try to rob some drawings from our graphic devs. ;)

Will there be any sexual content in game, such as brothels, harlots out at night and so forth? if so, please explain a bit more
Vuuar : Lot of people asked us about it, but we can’t be too hard if we want to touch a large public. But I heard that there is a hot district in Al Drifa...

Caster>Warrior>Hunter>Caster. Will rogues be better at melee combat to offset a warrior’s higher health and armor?
Vuuar : A rogue can surprise a warrior for sure, butcan’t kill him. A warrior is really powerful in melee. But if a rogue chooses the assassination way... perhaps :)

What type of ranged weapons will be in except bow? Will you have throwing daggers/axe, boomerangs, slings, spears?
Vuuar : Yes, almost all of them.

What is the condition for loosing the ’grandmaster’ status? Will a very dedicated player be able to keep the title for a long time?
Vuuar : Grandmaster is like a way of life. You have to climb this ladder of knowledge. Even if you will loose your privilege of being the first one, you will get other privileges. ;)

Dragons are able to carry two people. Will there be other mounts that can carry more than one person?
Vuuar : Yep and more than 2 too ;)

Most of those who are awaiting D&L at the moment are Roleplayers, do you expect to develop the background of Ganareth soon to let us create coherent backgrounds for our characters?
Vuuar : We work with AD for this. Ghede : Part of our team already works on backgournd creation since 2 month now, including Gary Gigax. We put a high priority on roleplay aspects.

Will it be possible for bards to develop fame that offers them advantages in certain places, like NPC guards or extra money for performing?
Vuuar : Bards can become famous in the game, because bards don’t need as much mana as other classes :) It’s quite usefull in ennemies countries.

Will we be able to trade slaves (not players, but an "ordinary" trade good)
Vuuar : Slaves can be in a quest, for sure. But it will be not be the major thing to do in the game. ;)

Will we need torches, magical lights or night-vision skill to see in the dark? Or will the character light up the area like in other games?
Vuuar : At the moment, beta testers already have torches in game for really dark nights especially moonless nights ;)

Will any form of alcohol be in the game? (mead, beer) And how it will affect players?
Vuuar : I know players love this part of games... So I already asked the devs what kind of effects we can have ;)

Can players be eaten by dragons while in PvP combat? or just thrown by the mouth of the dragon like in videos?
Vuuar : For sure, you will not see the stomach of the dragon like pinoccio in the whale :) But a dragon can kill you.

Will guild wars be allowed between 2 guilds of the same alignment?
Vuuar : No.. Dark can’t attack Dark and Light can’t attack Light. But guilds can duel each other if they agree. 2 players can do it too.

How large will the largest cities be? Will it be like major metropolises stretching for miles or more like just a few hundred houses?
Vuuar : Al Drifa will be huge with lot of districts. Other cities will not be so huge.

Will we be able to steal/pick-pocket from NPCs and players?
Vuuar : Pickpockets can steal only money for the moment. I don’t support the idea of stealing equipment...

Will monsters/players take damage if they stand in front of a shield-sliding character coming down in high speed?
Vuuar : Depend of your shield. I don’t really know. I can be surprised too

Will player skills (the one in front of his/her keyboard, not the ingame avatar) play an important role in combat?
Vuuar : Not really because it’s a MMORPG. But we will try to give some fun to it, like we already do with surf and others.

Will there be several ways for a character to die? Like, not only falling on the ground, but also head chopped off, or stabbed, etc?
Vuuar : There won’t be much gore in the game. Or we will be obliged to put some green blood for German market ;)

Many players have thought about many ideas for the gameplay like hunting horn for leaders, official "olympic games" for all Ganareth.. Do devs read about it ? What ’s the feeling about these ideas ? Can you put these in the game ?
Vuuar : They do read the ideas. Ghede : About event ideas, we read them as well, and even if we don’t much, we keep all good ideas for later use

Can mounts be used as beasts of burden, meaning that mounts will extend our inventory size or have an inventory for the owner’s personal use?
Vuuar : Yes you can have a beast of burden. You will have to hire it.

Will war horns be available to leaders in order to rally troops or boost their ’morale’? (read ’attributes’)
Vuuar : Leaders will be important for morale. They don’t really need a horn for it. But I really like the idea of horn ;)

Will there be banks, and if so, will they be player-run, and will we be able to steal from them?
Vuuar : I see that someone really wants his "wanted" status!! Yes banks will exist, but you will find a lot of trade convoys beetween cities, and perhaps you can try to stop them to rob them :) This is also necessary for a siege.

If a sorcerer worships Aesir or Calder, will he have bonus or special skills related to the god’s element (ice or fire spells)?
Vuuar : I saw that you are pretty wise :) Gods can give you some specials spells or skills, yes :)

Will we be able to tame water creatures and ride them like mounts across water? For example sea-wyrms?
Vuuar : Very good idea. But for the moment, sea and undersea is not on our to-do list.

Will there be facial hair growth when your character evolves?
Vuuar : No I don’t think so :) Do you really want it ? I will ask the devs about it.

Will rangers have mountain climbing skills? with ropes and crampons?
Vuuar : It’s simpler with gliders and flying mounts :)

Will we be able to play a ’loan shark’ - lending money to players and guilds, with a fixed interest rate and an automatic repayment system...
Vuuar : It’s a good idea for our economic system ;)

Can we build fortresses/towns by ourselves? Or can we enlarge already existing fortresses?
Vuuar : At the beginning you will be authorized to build on special grounds only. You will be able to enlarge cities if we put those areas around them, or evrywhere in Ganareth when you will find this kind of area.

Can we put wanted posters up for people who annoy us in DnL?
Vuuar : You need to be a noble for it.

Last question: Can you die from heat (desert) and cold (mountain, snowstorm)? :)
Vuuar : Yep, you will have to manage hot and cold. And not only magical fire and magical frost ;) So you can die from frost in the mountains and from heat in the desert.