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As game worlds become more and more advanced, they also grow larger and larger. The by-product of this improvement is the long distances that must be traveled between locations. For some reason, with this increase in world size, there is not a corresponding improvement in traveling systems. Indeed, there seems to be almost a perverse joy in sending players on quests that involve running back and forth between two distant points with no other objective but carrying a bickering message between a pair of NPCs.

Fallen Earth team released their latest QotW feature loaded with the weekly progress update, confirming their participation in the upcoming Leipzig Game Convention, Austin GDC and PAX. In addition to that, seven forum questions have been answered about economy, clan symbols, Lake Mead, Linux support, stealth skill and mutation animations:

This week we're switching gears somewhat, changing over from working on starter towns to our first major instance and polishing up some conflict towns in Kaibab Forest. We're still working on items, but will be wrapping that up soon. We've also got folks working on auctions, vehicles, clans, the tutorial and other stuff to boot.

For those interested, we're putting together our convention schedule for the season, and it looks like the Leipzig Game Convention and PAX will be our big shows this year (in addition to the standard industry shows like Austin GDC, etc).

1. Will FE control the maximum mark-up on an item being auctioned?...

Click after the jump for the full feature and answers!

Jim Moreno tackles the difficult task of roleplaying a merchant in this edition of RoleCraft: "Even roleplayers are known to struggle with this cookie cutter gameplay, and with keeping their characters from looking and acting just like every other character in game. What to do? One sure way to avoid the pitfalls of routine is to realize that there are many other classes in game besides adventurer. It's time to become a professional roleplayer!"

This week's Fallen Earth QotW feature delivers a development progress update, which shifted towards melee weapons, gear and mutation animations. In addition to that, the developers gave answers to seven burning fan questions concerning training horses, PvP friendly fire, vehicles, faction farming and more:

This week we're working on Kingman, Mumford, melee weapons, Science gear, and mutation animations among other things. It's the second week of our two-week cycle, so now its more buckling down and getting things done than brainstorming.

One thing I do want folks to keep in mind with these questions of the week: the answers are our plans right now. After more testing, work, etc. we may find that these ideas don't work and have to retool. Obviously we want to do this as little as possible since it cuts back on other things we can do (plus we think we've got some good ideas) but it's likely to happen. If you get the final game and find that some things have changed slightly know that we had a good reason. We try to stay true to our design ideas as much as possible, but if 99% of our testers tell us something isn't working as we planned most likely it needs to be changed.

1. Could you explain a bit more about "crafting" horses? I'm thinking using Animal Handling/Training it would be take an existing horse and train for speed or endurance etc. but would love a confirmation...

Check the full entry after the jump!

Sean Bulger's periodic community column today looks at the concept of Open PvP (player vs. player) and what it does to games and their communities.

A while back we talked about conflict between players and what sort of a role that it can play in a game and for communities. During this, it was noted that player competition can be implemented in numerous different ways. This week, I would like to revisit this discussion and talk about one of those particular methods: the open PvP world.

Open PvP is one of the more controversial topics in MMO circles and plenty of people have fairly strong opinions one way or the other on the subject. That said, I would like to explore both the positive impacts and negative ones on the player community. Open PvP has the potential to help bond a community fairly tightly, but it also has the potential to truly tear it apart as well.

Read more after the leap.

Last week, Jonathan Steinhauer's column looked at the design of outdoor areas in The Dangerous Wilderness, Part 1. In Part 2, he continues his thoughts on the basic challenge most every MMO faces.

The easiest solution, though it avoids the root of the problem, is to disperse the ground spawns to a more realistic population level. There are areas where one would expect to encounter monsters, and that is where the heavy concentrations should be. Hard core hunting should occur in the fortresses and camps of the various villains, monsters, and animals that are the bane of the adventurer, not every time you step off the path. This opens up the wilderness for travel and casual hunting while giving players the kind of combat that exist in epic stories: battle in the lairs.

Read more after the leap.

In this week's edition of QotW feature, Fallen Earth team updates us on their development progress and answers a selection of the fans' forum questions about player and mount movement speeds, blood effects, parked vehicles, clan PvP battles and much more:

This week we're working in the towns of Mumford and Kingman and entering various armor, weapon, and medical items into our databases. We're also working on animations for mutations and special abilities, new character models (which look fantastic), and tuning up the tutorial.

1. Wondering what factors are going to determine Player movement speed... will adding AP into Agility lead to an increase in how fast you can run?

We don't have an Agility attribute, but we do have Coordination and Dexterity. Coordination is whole body movement, so it affects Melee, Dodge, Stealth, and Athletics. Dexterity is hand movement so it affects Pistol and Rifle...

Read after the jump for the complete feature!

Fallen Earth team tackles several subjects in this week's QOTW feature, revealing clan formation mechanics and costs, crafting research and training, movement fatigue and the particular fan question about flying vehicles in the wasteland!

We're wrapping up work this week on Zanesville and Needle Eye, while moving on to Kingman and Mumford. Our item balancing work is continuing on, as is our work on the tutorial revamp. We got our first draft of the exterior of the tutorial level in game now and it's mighty impressive.

This week I'm going to be hitting two subjects that we've been working on lately, one that folks ask about and one that folks haven't because, well, they didn't know it was there...

Read the full entry after the jump!

Jim Moreno looks at the biggest question for the modern MMO roleplayer: how do you keep in character in an instance? They're here to stay, so it's time to learn how to deal with them.

Hear me now and believe me later, there is no reason why roleplayers cannot and should not engage in the same high quality RP within an instance as without. Personally, I'm not at all knowledgeable as to where the notion started from, but I absolutely aim to crush it here and henceforth. More than that, I want to share with fellow roleplayers why I think instances are the best places for RP, and provide some tips on how to take on these adventures with RP in mind. I hope they help!

Read more after the leap.

In a new editorial, columnist Jonathan Steinhauer embarks into "The Dangerous Wilderness". He looks at the concept of pf the wild and how it's presented in MMOs.

As I've wandered through the wilds of various games, I've been stunned by the panoramic vistas that have opened out before me. Trees sway in the light breeze, their leaves rustling softly through my speakers. A stream trickles by, the sunlight gleaming of the whorls and eddies of the current while in the distance, purple mountains capped with white glaciers scrape the billowing clouds. The imagery is so detailed, I could almost believe it is real.

Read more after the leap.