Exclusive interview to the portal GoHa.Ru from XLGames.com

GoHaRu

 

 

1) Will players have a possibility to build castles of arbitrary configurations on the northern continent from “building blocks”, similar to the Ultima Online? Or will they only be able to buy some preconfigured design? If custom designs will be possible, how will you limit the construction area? Will it be possible to build something like the “Great Chinese Wall”, crossing a whole continent from the west to the east?

 

The player can build the castle in whatever kind of form they want but just in the core part on their occupied territory (around 100m radius)

2) You mentioned rare resources on the north continent previously. How they will be mined? Will players build mines, mine resources manually, or, maybe, resources will be just awarded according to the territory, controlled by a player?

 

It will be an extracting kind of form like mining or gathering. Automatic reward from the system would be tax.

3) In closed beta 3 we have seen that equipment is color coded with white, green, blue and yellow colors. Could you elaborate on how players will be able to get items of every color type, and which color marks the most rare/precious equipment?

 

Each colors stands for the level of the item; White (general), Green (advanced), Blue (rare). You can earn item by either from hunting a monster or item crafting.

4) Why do we need the durability of items, and how it will be possible to restore it? What will happen when durability will reach zero – will the item then break and disappear?

 

Durability of items can be restored through repair NPCs. When the durability turns 0, the item will not perform in the way they should, but will not break or disappear and can be restored after repair.

5) In closed beta your ship was repairing itself automatically and it was possible to recall it from a fight anytime. Do you plan to fix it until the release? Will it be possible to destroy a ship completely?

 

Ship can be repaired through ship keeper NPC or with repair skill. The system will change to not allow ships to be recalled during battle. The ships are very important asset of players, so they won’t be destroyed completely in any way.

 

6) In the last test we have noticed that ships are highly interactive, but controls have too much of an “arcade” feel to them. And the possibility to swim backwards did not look very natural. Shall we expect any changes to the ship control system? Will you implement some factors that can change speed of a ship, for example, speed and direction of wind?



Changes of ship control system are not planned for now. The speed of the ship is decided by the two sails and other additional factors that can change the speed are not in consideration.

7) Will we get a possibility to build new types of ships in the release version of the game? Will they differ by size and speed? Do you plan to add different types of ammunition, for example, one type for damage to sails, and another for damage to the crew?

 

More kind of ships will be included, from small to large ships with each having all different performance. Players will be able to customize certain part of their ships. However, we are not considering the ship upgrade.  Speedboat and ferry will be included. Harpoon will be loaded on ferry. (Not a weapon that can give damage)

8) You have mentioned that initially players will be members of one of the two factions, but they will be allowed to create their own faction later on. How complicated will be the creation process? What players will need to do to join the player-created faction?

 

For a player to create their own faction, the player should own his/her own territory on Northern continent, and claim independence from the faction that he/she used to belong to. It is bit ambiguous to explain why and how difficult this process is for now. For a player to be affiliated in a faction, the player just needs allowance from the head of that faction (another player), but will have to leave the previous faction. 1 player in 1 faction is the principle.

9) Will there be wars of different clans/ expeditionary force within one faction that Lineage players are used to?

Yes, in the Northern continent, wars between expeditionary forces will occur to win territory.

10) Will there be a penalty in the form of jail at the north continent, or will it be a free-pvp zone?

There is no area where it is totally free from PvP. (PvP penalty is applied when player kills another player who’s in the same faction). This includes the Northern continent. However, most part of the Northern continent is PvP free. (PvP free area means PK between hostile factions are allowed without penalty). Certain factions, such as pirates might be free from PvP penalty. Also, blood print which works as the evidence of PK, cannot be find easily on sea, so sea can be felt relatively a PvP free area.



Additional questions:





*1) Your answers in the last interview have made it clear that expeditionary force is basically a usual Lineage clan. This begs the question – what functions will you delegate to guilds?

There’s not much info about the guild system to reveal for now. Expeditionary will be introduced first.

*2) In the interview you have also mentioned upgradable “guild houses”, is it something similar to the guildhalls in Lineage2? What role will they play in the game?

We call what other MMOs call guilds as expeditionary in ArcheAge. Expeditionary will be provided of large and beautiful house where expeditionary members can use together.

 

*3) In the closed beta 3 one would need relatively small amount of resources to build a ship. Our testers could collect the necessary amount in 1 or 2 days. Will it stay like this in the release version?

Balancing will be tuned continuously. Anyone with just a little effort and time will be able to make a ship. There will be more things to produce other than ship.

*4) Many players in the closed beta thought that the death penalty system is too forgiving for a spiritual successor of Ultima Online. What penalties the game has after release? Do you consider introducing more severe death penalties at the north continent?

Regarding death penalties, we are considering item durability decreases and extended resurrection times. We could also add corpse runs. (We are not considering strong penalties such as experience point loss or item drops.) We have to find a balance to make death meaningful but not force players away from the game. In the Northern continent, there will be more opportunities to encounter players in other factions which mean more PvP. In such case, if death penalty is too severe, it would be very hard to enjoy the game. We will listen more about how the players think about the death penalty in ArcheAge.

*5) What is the main purpose of battlegrounds in the ArcheAge world? Will players have a possibility to get some items just for playing in battlegrounds; will they be able to get there the top-class equipment for their characters?

Battleground is for more fun and interesting PvP game play with various rules and systems. Points earned in the Battleground can be used to buy Battleground items. Battleground is the system to provide more fun game play. Too much reward can damage the original purpose of the system.



*6) After closed beta 3 we have the impression that labor points is the main and most important resource in the game. However, we were able to increase them easily by creating alts for resource gathering. Will you set some limits to prevent such tricks in the release?

We are consistently working on the balancing of labor system. We are considering ways to increase the maximum labor point, and also thinking of ways to fasten the labor point recharging time. The system will change to designate a certain character to recharge labor point, which means only one character can recharge labor point at one time.

 

 

link

Daimyo21

I like the idea of free building castles.. I wonder how itll exactly work in terms of actual free build itself within the 100m radius.  I think itll be a capturable zone, and within the zone is a radius of complete free buidling.. build your castle big or small, multiple tiers of walls etc.. which is enough freedom for me and most likely will void any sort of exploits.

 

 

Other concerns: 

Durability loss on items seems realisitc in terms of repairing an object, cause in RL itd be stupid if things just vanished after broken like in DF.  Id really really like a salvage system like Asherons Call where you can salvage all uneeded/broken items and create resources to craft new ones with enchantments etc.. 

 

Death penalty should have more than just ressurection times and durability loss.  Add insurance but also on death, the player loses a few random items that the PKer can collect off his body.. IF the victim goes back to his body, he could collect a duplicate of the items he lost, but if he had insurance.. it simply shows up in his Bank or inventory or mailbox etc.  Its a win win and it gives consequence and reward in every form without discouraging players hardwork if he knows he wont lose anything unless he chooses not to go back to his corpse.  Anything death cant be too frustrating (long runs back to body etc.) because these are very taxing "chores" and arent really that fun for casual players.  But if you lose a few items that dont mean shit, you dont have to go back and get them. 

 

The ships are fine.. dynamic wind systems will be too complicated for players.  I hope if you have only 1 sail up, it makes your turning radius very sharp and if 2 sails are up it turns more wide so theres strategy involved. 

 

Im glad they addressed the labor system points.  i was worried about that.  Im sure theyll have it set to regenerate offline from the last character that logged off.  They need to allow players to repair items for cheaper than NPC as well.

 

Also I like that battlegrounds points wont likely be giving you super uber items as its simply a feature for casual players who want an organized quick pvp fight. 

 

I dont mind being able to repair ships for a fee. no one wants to keep farming for another ship if they lose theirs due to idiotic friend/clan decisions.

Eigetsu

Originally posted by Daimyo21 Add insurance but also on death, the player loses a few random items that the PKer can collect off his body.. IF the victim goes back to his body, he could collect a duplicate of the items he lost, but if he had insurance.. it simply shows up in his Bank or inventory or mailbox etc.

Its will be exploitable, this way you can duplicate lots of stuff and sell it over and over again.

PsychoPigeon

this is the greatest game...ever made ever.. in the history of greatest games ever..EVER.

Daimyo21

Originally posted by Demonitus

Originally posted by Daimyo21 Add insurance but also on death, the player loses a few random items that the PKer can collect off his body.. IF the victim goes back to his body, he could collect a duplicate of the items he lost, but if he had insurance.. it simply shows up in his Bank or inventory or mailbox etc.

Its will be exploitable, this way you can duplicate lots of stuff and sell it over and over again.

This is true in a sense, they can add multiple restrictions and once again find a median.  First being, if killed by anyone on friends list, clan, alliance etc.  Than no items will be dropped or duplicated. If killed by enemy clan/alliance member the player wont drop anything for another 30 minutes+   Players cannot be looted after killed by monsters.  Players in X meters radius around bindstones will not drop items as this can prevent spawn camping as well (this will force player to travel further away from bindstone in order to even attempt an exploit).

 

If someone is killed right before battle to nullify dropping items, he will lose durability, Twice as much durability loss for duplicated item (which if more special of an item, it will cost more money to repair and adding more negative emphasis on trying to exploit for profit.   The player would have to either run to body, or bank (if insured) to get items back.

 

Add a 1 week ban to exploiters if caught attempting.. add a bunch of these restrictions like posted above.. Make it time consuming so its not even worth it, mightest well just farm, craft, sell stuff, not care to attempt. 

 

Theres a working way, They just got to put restrictions on it thatll make it nice for casual players not having to worry about losing stuff but also give a nice reward of loot for sandbox players.

 

Edited for small revisions