Hooten covers a variety of topics in the most recent Rift:Planes of Telara dev chat.

Content Designer Aaron Hooten and Senior Community Manager Cindy "Abigale" Bowens stopped by the official Rift: Planes of Telara IRC channel on Friday to answer questions from fans, and they covered a wide variety of interesting topics. Hooten focuses mainly on how the team adds content in each zone, but he also gives some details on quests and the achievement system.

For example, Hooten says that his favorite quest is "Drink Grengrug," which requires players to "run around and fill mugs with this wierd Troglodyte brew." He likes to race against other players to add another dimension to the quest. Check out the full transcript after the jump to read all of Hooten's answers.

Rift: Planes of Telara IRC Chat with Content Designer Aaron Hooten

<%Aaron> Hey everyone! Let me give you a quick intro on me and we can get down to business
<%Aaron> So previous to working for Trion I was a Fire Sprinkler Engineer.
<%Aaron> Completely un-related to game design, unless you count the 30 hours a week I was clocking on various mmos
<%Aaron> It's a good job, and every building is different so you have new and exciting challenges with each new project. I liked it.
<%Aaron> I did that for about five years or so and I decided I was either going to do that for the rest of my professional life or try a long shot at something I'd always dreamed of doing.
<%Aaron> I applied here at Trion, and much to my surprise I was packing all my Spider-Man toys to move here within a week.
<%Aaron> I really do feel lucky.

<@Rifty> Unforgiven asks: Who is the main crafting dev boss person? I need to know who to hunt down and ask questions to for Gamer Day. What does he/she like to drink? I will be glad to try and intoxicate them first to lower chances of getting the "We're not ready to talk about that yet" response.
<%Aaron> Okay, I asked her directly and recieved the following answer:
<%Aaron> Girl with black hair, vodka or wine. I take a 2 beer messenger fee though.

<@Rifty> Mira asks: Is it hard to come up with content to fill in a zone?
<%Aaron> It definitely can be. One of the things I like about our pod structure is it really helps the idea process
<%Aaron> I'll get an idea and start to get excited, and then someone else will pick up the torch
<%Aaron> and before you know it we are all high-fiving and dancing like egyptians.

<@Rifty> Mira asks: Do you have a quota system for "must haves" in each zone?
<%Aaron> very much so
<%Aaron> at the end of every polish pass there is a major task that we all must hit
<%Aaron> "Make it mighty."

<@Rifty> Odlox asks: Will there be a Soul specialized in spears?
<%Aaron> If there was such a soul, and it was unannounced cindy would probably give me an indian burn for releasing the info.
<%Abigale> Muahaha

<@Rifty> Dementzia asks: Are there going to be Surnames (last names)? And if so, can we share the surname with others (for roleplay weddings/familes/clans)?
<%Aaron> There are currently no surnames for characters. However tons of npc's have em. haha.
<%Aaron> It's cool though, it's like your famous: Madonna, Prince, Leopard. They all have one name.

<@Rifty> DantheDragon asks: Is freedom of movement important in your design? Do you use invisible walls or natural borders to constrain areas? Are you considering non-taxi flight at any point?
<%Aaron> This is super important to us. I know there are some areas in the game that have some invisible collision, but for the most part...
<%Aaron> watch where you step.

<@Rifty> WarpCode asks: Can we expect a lot of non-combat type content such as puzzle games or assist npc with doing certain tasks?
<%Aaron> Yes you can. We've tried our best to provide you guys with a deeper experience than just "kill 10 dudes."
<%Aaron> And I don't know if you are familiar with Dead Simon or not
<%Aaron> but he's been sneaking all kinds of puzzley stuff into the game.

<@Rifty> Dee asks: How challenging is content going to be?
<%Aaron> We have varying levels of difficulty. Some content is group and some solo.
<%Aaron> In the end we just want you to have fun playing the way you want to play.
<%Aaron> So we do a little of everything.

<@Rifty> Schraggy asks: are all/most quests going to be unique and interesting? or can we expect short kill/delivery quests, too
<%Aaron> We have what we call "Meat and Potatoes" quests. You'll definitely get your share of kills, escorts, and all the stuff you are familiar with
<%Aaron> and then BLAMMO - super unique awesome quests will jump out and grab you.
<%Aaron> but frankly guys, I like to kill stuff too :)

<@Rifty> Dee asks: There's a saying 'no pain, no gain' - what will be the pain/fun ratio for Rift?
<%Aaron> We really strive to make every quest fun. Honestly, we are always trying to innovate new ways to present content to you guys so as to keep it fresh.

<@Rifty> Malvious asks: Are we going to get like daily quests we need to do to gain reputation with a certain faction to gain equipment/buffs or something like that? (rep grinds)
<%Aaron> Yes, and yes. We have an awesome mid level daily in Scarlet Gorge that I do constantly.

<@Rifty> Shabazza asks: Will there be an achievement system?
<%Aaron> Yes, there is in fact one in place already and that Dead Simon guy I was talking about has his hands all over that too.

<@Rifty> DantheDragon asks: At what level might we expect to get our first mount? Third of the way / half / level cap?
<%Aaron> You get it pretty fast. I don't know if I'm aloud to say when exactly, but when I got mine it felt much faster than most other games I've played.
<%Aaron> and our mounts are AWESOME!

<@Rifty> Dee asks: On the topic of achievements, will they give tangible rewards or will they be purely for fun?
<%Aaron> Yes, and yes. Maybe even titles (referring to ealier question), maybe.

<@Rifty> shyntyrr asks: What has been your favourite part of Rift thus far, while playing? (That you can answer!)
<%Aaron> Little side quests and the dynamic/unexpected stuff I come across. Even though I'm a dev, I don't know everything that's in the game.
<%Aaron> So I'll be playing through other teams content and find little secret stuff along the way. That's the stuff I love.

<@Rifty> NightDemon asks: On the topic of dungons, are most going to take longer than 30min to complete, and if so are they segmented?
<%Aaron> I'm not a dungeon dude <--- official title, but I have played a ton of them.
<%Aaron> They vary in length. Some are fast and furious, others are longer and also furious. I really, really, like the dungeon content in this game.

<@Rifty> Dee asks: Will dungeons and raid content have harder (heroic) versions or will you try something different to keep players returning to the fights?
<%Aaron> Yes we have Expert level dungeons with exciting twists and differences to their regular counterparts.
<%Aaron> Play them!

<@Rifty> NightDemon asks: what was your greatest challenge in helping make Telara "mighty"?
<%Aaron> It's the stuff that you take for granted. NPC's and objects and the like.
<%Aaron> It's easy to just put that stuff in the game "as is." But when you add little things with interactivity it really makes the game come alive.
<%Aaron> The challenging part is doing that a billion times :P
< Shabazza> and hopefully not with the same face every few steps :-)
<%Aaron> No, the art team would attack us with nerf guns if we got that complacent. Well they do that anyway...

<@Rifty> Falarie asks: will the devs and you of course still be this active with the community after launch? and are there plans to douse the flamers on the boards to keep the community fun?
<%Aaron> One thing I've noticed about the people that I work with and our community. We are really similar!
<%Aaron> I think we are just as excited to speak with you guys as you are with us.
<%Aaron> Honestly I was all nervous, and excited all morning waiting to get the chance.
<%Abigale> And we haven't had too many problems with flames on the forum so far. But our Community Team is always standing by with a fire hose :)
<%Abigale> This team is so enthusiastic about the community. Their enthusiasm is the same here as it is in videos you see :)

<@Rifty> NightDemon asks: Around the office who do you find to be the most inspireing/helpful and the most innovative?
<%Aaron> He's probably going to kill me for saying it, but Bill Fisher. He's got a ton of experience, and he works his tail off.
<%Aaron> I usually go to him or my awesome pod lead with any questions. Oh and Abi is definitely an inspiration around the office.

<@Rifty> Nalerian asks: what's your favorite build to play right now (as in soul combo)
<%Aaron> I'm playing the rogue calling primarily: Assassin, Blade Dancer, _________ <--- secret :)
<%Aaron> It's a ton of fun messing around with all of the combos really.

<@Rifty> Mictlan asks: Those of you on the dev team that have worked at other companies/studios, how would you compare them to the environment at Trion?  More giggles?
<%Aaron> The guys around me are saying "This is the most bald studio I've ever worked at."
<%Aaron> Everyone loves to come to work everyday, and no one has any chips on their shoulder (or hair mostly).
<%Abigale> I have to agree... this is a great studio. I love this team :)

<@Rifty> Unforgiven asks: Are you coming to Gamer Day?
<%Aaron> Yes I'll be there, and I hope you guys will too.

<@Rifty> Nalerian asks: have any cool, in-game stories you can share?
<%Aaron> I'll answer this and simultaneously answer what my favorite quest is:
<%Aaron> It's called "Drink Grengrug," and it's in Stonefield. It's a quest where you run around and fill mugs with this wierd Troglodyte brew.
<%Aaron> It's fun, I rush to it's location to do it with every charater, and my favorite is trying to do it against other players
<%Aaron> It's becomes a crazy race and I get all shakey (that's how I can tell I like stuff).

<@Rifty> Nalerian asks: who is your bane in PvP currently?
<%Aaron> Drew Clowery.
< Nalerian> follow up is why...?
<%Aaron> I'll chase him to the end of the world. Also I like killing simon (everyone does).
<%Aaron> Because he's sneaky and really, really, good. I'm talking about getting me while I have him at 10 health good. A lot.
< Rays> Poor Simon must done something bad
<%Aaron> Nah, he's just well known around the office and it's the only time we have a reason to be mean to him. So we take it :P

<@Rifty> Dementzia asks: Is there going to be an official photographer at the Gamer day? And will it be okay for everyone to snap pictures? I hate that I cannot go, but would love to see the fun.
<%Aaron> I'm sure we'll have someone with a camera in hand, as for you guys taking pics, I'm not sure. Bring a camera just in case and I'll take a photo with you outside if I have too :P
<%Abigale> You will be welcome to take photos at the party :)
<%Aaron> sweet!

<@Rifty> Verb asks: Will crowd control abilities have importance in PvE or are they mostly for PvP?, Do you have content that requires them?
<%Aaron> They will be important for both. The abilities we have are awesome and involved.

<%Aaron> Running out of time... so many questions unanswered... captain kirk voice initiated.
<%Abigale> Yes, we have to let Aaron get back to work :)
%Aaron> It was excellent getting a chance to talk to you guys!
<%Abigale> I really appreciate him taking the time to come and chat with us :)
<%Aaron> See you at the party. Okay, okay!