Dunki
03-23-2010, 04:02 AM
Hi
We're happy to get some of your precious time and to ask some questions about Earthrise.
EarthriseHQ: As we know, the combat-system is planned to be more fast-paced as in typical MMOs on the market today. What sort of limitations are there on options for switching weapons during combat situations, for example? (If I change weapons, will there be a cool down?)
Masthead Studios: Players will have to decide, at any moment, whether their character is in an Exploration or Battle Mode. In Exploration mode characters move faster, and can regenerate lost shield integrity, but are less protected from incoming attacks; while fully armed in Battle Mode they move slower, their shields will not regenerate and their resistances against different types of damage is in full effect. Additionally, switching gear in Battle Mode is limited to changing weapon only, while changing Armor and any Devices attached to it is not possible. Changing weapon in Battle Mode will take significantly more time than in Exploration Mode, making it a viable tactic to find protection from attacks while switching to Exploration Mode to change weapons.
EarthriseHQ: What type of things can you buy from NPCs? Are there limitations to what you can sell to a NPC?
Masthead Studios: Earthrise strives to create a fully player-driven economy, where player created content has no alternative from NPC vendors. Thanks to the availability of recycling at any factory across the island of Enterra, no physical item can be considered useless or "junk" as it can be effectively broken down to its basic ingredients that can be invested in the creation of new and useful items. NPC vendors will still exist and provide various trade options. NPC vendors will not only buy back items that players can't find a market for, but also sell temporarily useful items. This is of great importance as the full looting system may leave players, who have died, in a position where they are forced into bankruptcy and cannot enjoy the game without gear to support them.
Temporary leased items will have poor durability and break soon after they are bought, they cannot be repaired or recycled and will let players get back to a comparable level with the foes and earn enough to invest in player-made equipment. To avoid abuse of the temporary item system, items bought by vendors will be impossible to recycle due to property management systems embedded into the items that cause factories to refuse recycling services.
EarthriseHQ: Are there specific trader-related skills in-game that can be learned other than the ones needed to craft an item for the marketplace? In QOTW 01182010, you mentioned a "laissez-faire" type of economy where almost anything goes at first. Will Masthead step in during the early stages of the game to help the "flow" of the economy via resources if necessary?
Masthead Studios: All crafting skills cover the broad range of manufacturing, enhancing, repairing or recycling of all items available in the game. We have considered creating skills that cover different aspects of trading among players but have come to a decision to leave that to players themselves and create their own methods of trading without feeling encumbered by an artificial abstract system that imposes restrictions on what can or cannot be done. As for regulations and restrictions made by the development team, the perfect situation would be one where the economy slowly develops without need of outside regulation. The game economy is designed with slow development in mind, where the initial population of the game would face a unique challenge to stem the player-driven economy, unlocking the potential of all the skills available. Time of discovery, in other words.
As higher tiers of equipment will require the population to leave the secure territories close to Continoma and Noir, and enter a "wild west" of territories to conquer and control, rare resources will flow into the player driven economy unlocking even more powerful items and designed enhancements for those items. We hope that the economy will develop at high pace and players will enjoy the initial challenge of developing a game economy, and there would be no need to artificially inject resources into the game as every outside action would have too many repercussions in the game world. Still, any method to improve the game will be definitely held in consideration.
EarthriseHQ: What are your thoughts about grinding in MMO games and how do you plan to avoid this perception in Earthrise?
Masthead Studios: Grinding has its advantages and disadvantages. It presents players with simple, predictive mechanics that emphasize long-term planning and allows them to spend small chunks of time contributing to a larger goal, or fill in times of low activity or lack of opportunities. Its disadvantages are well known and boil down to repetitiveness that can dumb down a game when left out of control. In Earthrise grinding will be possible, as collecting resources and components from mobs will bring organic material needed for many technologies. Still, it will not dictate that the players must spend time grinding if they don't want to. The advancement curve takes in account very little "grinding buffer" and players can easily substitute killing monsters on their own for repeatable quests, protecting mines from attacks or simply delving into PvP nature of the game.
EarthriseHQ: Are there opportunities planned where players will be able to participate in quests that allow them to PVP against other players? If so, will there also be an option for lesser skilled PVP players (or in the event there are no other players around at that time) to also complete these missions via NPCs "standing in" as players?
Masthead Studios: Many quests will take place in territories that are being contested or of low security level. While no quest will require that the player must involve in PvP combat with other players to complete, players of opposite factions will often meet up in territories needed to complete the quests for both sides. We did not want to enforce PvP as this would have had effect on quest system balance, especially if there is a disparity among faction populations.
EarthriseHQ: What elements are in place (if any) to prevent a few large guilds from overwhelming the map of Enterra and preventing any resource allocation to smaller guilds?
Masthead Studios: Temporary monopolization of the market is an intended after-effect of the "laissez faire" economy. We are ensuring that if guilds gather together to prevent broad resource distribution, there are systems in place that will make it prohibitively impossible to maintain for periods long enough to destabilize the economy. Instead of creating a fully controlled and smooth economy, we strive to make it a fluctuating and changing environment that is constantly under attempts of control and speculation of guilds that strive to take opportunity of it.
EarthriseHQ: In a game such as Earthrise, we understand it is very unlikely one guild will be able to "do it all" and control every single territory on the map, which makes alliances very important for survival. Will there be tools in place to make creating and tracking alliances easier, and will it be possible to use buildings in other guild's territories as a result? Can two opposite faction guilds enter into such an alliance?
Masthead Studios: Diplomacy between guilds is currently being in the last stages of design, but we prefer to keep it under wraps for now.
EarthriseHQ: How are skills acquired? Do points show up automatically for allocation, or do I need to purchase them from a trainer?
Masthead Studios: Points for purchasing of skills are automatically acquired and are spent in the skill interface window for new abilities.
EarthriseHQ: We are concerned about the safety of teleporters. What can be done to prevent the area directly around a teleporter from being camped by enemies? Will there be a brief "immunity" period when you arrive via teleporter to incorporate loading and possible lag issues that may arise?
Masthead Studios: We are still testing the system and thinking of the best way to handle those situations. One thing is certain that we don’t want to encourage teleport and resurrection site camping.
The EarthriseHQ-team wants to thank you for your time and wishes your team a successful beta-phase for Earthrise! We're convinced that you're developing a wonderful game.
We're happy to get some of your precious time and to ask some questions about Earthrise.
EarthriseHQ: As we know, the combat-system is planned to be more fast-paced as in typical MMOs on the market today. What sort of limitations are there on options for switching weapons during combat situations, for example? (If I change weapons, will there be a cool down?)
Masthead Studios: Players will have to decide, at any moment, whether their character is in an Exploration or Battle Mode. In Exploration mode characters move faster, and can regenerate lost shield integrity, but are less protected from incoming attacks; while fully armed in Battle Mode they move slower, their shields will not regenerate and their resistances against different types of damage is in full effect. Additionally, switching gear in Battle Mode is limited to changing weapon only, while changing Armor and any Devices attached to it is not possible. Changing weapon in Battle Mode will take significantly more time than in Exploration Mode, making it a viable tactic to find protection from attacks while switching to Exploration Mode to change weapons.
EarthriseHQ: What type of things can you buy from NPCs? Are there limitations to what you can sell to a NPC?
Masthead Studios: Earthrise strives to create a fully player-driven economy, where player created content has no alternative from NPC vendors. Thanks to the availability of recycling at any factory across the island of Enterra, no physical item can be considered useless or "junk" as it can be effectively broken down to its basic ingredients that can be invested in the creation of new and useful items. NPC vendors will still exist and provide various trade options. NPC vendors will not only buy back items that players can't find a market for, but also sell temporarily useful items. This is of great importance as the full looting system may leave players, who have died, in a position where they are forced into bankruptcy and cannot enjoy the game without gear to support them.
Temporary leased items will have poor durability and break soon after they are bought, they cannot be repaired or recycled and will let players get back to a comparable level with the foes and earn enough to invest in player-made equipment. To avoid abuse of the temporary item system, items bought by vendors will be impossible to recycle due to property management systems embedded into the items that cause factories to refuse recycling services.
EarthriseHQ: Are there specific trader-related skills in-game that can be learned other than the ones needed to craft an item for the marketplace? In QOTW 01182010, you mentioned a "laissez-faire" type of economy where almost anything goes at first. Will Masthead step in during the early stages of the game to help the "flow" of the economy via resources if necessary?
Masthead Studios: All crafting skills cover the broad range of manufacturing, enhancing, repairing or recycling of all items available in the game. We have considered creating skills that cover different aspects of trading among players but have come to a decision to leave that to players themselves and create their own methods of trading without feeling encumbered by an artificial abstract system that imposes restrictions on what can or cannot be done. As for regulations and restrictions made by the development team, the perfect situation would be one where the economy slowly develops without need of outside regulation. The game economy is designed with slow development in mind, where the initial population of the game would face a unique challenge to stem the player-driven economy, unlocking the potential of all the skills available. Time of discovery, in other words.
As higher tiers of equipment will require the population to leave the secure territories close to Continoma and Noir, and enter a "wild west" of territories to conquer and control, rare resources will flow into the player driven economy unlocking even more powerful items and designed enhancements for those items. We hope that the economy will develop at high pace and players will enjoy the initial challenge of developing a game economy, and there would be no need to artificially inject resources into the game as every outside action would have too many repercussions in the game world. Still, any method to improve the game will be definitely held in consideration.
EarthriseHQ: What are your thoughts about grinding in MMO games and how do you plan to avoid this perception in Earthrise?
Masthead Studios: Grinding has its advantages and disadvantages. It presents players with simple, predictive mechanics that emphasize long-term planning and allows them to spend small chunks of time contributing to a larger goal, or fill in times of low activity or lack of opportunities. Its disadvantages are well known and boil down to repetitiveness that can dumb down a game when left out of control. In Earthrise grinding will be possible, as collecting resources and components from mobs will bring organic material needed for many technologies. Still, it will not dictate that the players must spend time grinding if they don't want to. The advancement curve takes in account very little "grinding buffer" and players can easily substitute killing monsters on their own for repeatable quests, protecting mines from attacks or simply delving into PvP nature of the game.
EarthriseHQ: Are there opportunities planned where players will be able to participate in quests that allow them to PVP against other players? If so, will there also be an option for lesser skilled PVP players (or in the event there are no other players around at that time) to also complete these missions via NPCs "standing in" as players?
Masthead Studios: Many quests will take place in territories that are being contested or of low security level. While no quest will require that the player must involve in PvP combat with other players to complete, players of opposite factions will often meet up in territories needed to complete the quests for both sides. We did not want to enforce PvP as this would have had effect on quest system balance, especially if there is a disparity among faction populations.
EarthriseHQ: What elements are in place (if any) to prevent a few large guilds from overwhelming the map of Enterra and preventing any resource allocation to smaller guilds?
Masthead Studios: Temporary monopolization of the market is an intended after-effect of the "laissez faire" economy. We are ensuring that if guilds gather together to prevent broad resource distribution, there are systems in place that will make it prohibitively impossible to maintain for periods long enough to destabilize the economy. Instead of creating a fully controlled and smooth economy, we strive to make it a fluctuating and changing environment that is constantly under attempts of control and speculation of guilds that strive to take opportunity of it.
EarthriseHQ: In a game such as Earthrise, we understand it is very unlikely one guild will be able to "do it all" and control every single territory on the map, which makes alliances very important for survival. Will there be tools in place to make creating and tracking alliances easier, and will it be possible to use buildings in other guild's territories as a result? Can two opposite faction guilds enter into such an alliance?
Masthead Studios: Diplomacy between guilds is currently being in the last stages of design, but we prefer to keep it under wraps for now.
EarthriseHQ: How are skills acquired? Do points show up automatically for allocation, or do I need to purchase them from a trainer?
Masthead Studios: Points for purchasing of skills are automatically acquired and are spent in the skill interface window for new abilities.
EarthriseHQ: We are concerned about the safety of teleporters. What can be done to prevent the area directly around a teleporter from being camped by enemies? Will there be a brief "immunity" period when you arrive via teleporter to incorporate loading and possible lag issues that may arise?
Masthead Studios: We are still testing the system and thinking of the best way to handle those situations. One thing is certain that we don’t want to encourage teleport and resurrection site camping.
The EarthriseHQ-team wants to thank you for your time and wishes your team a successful beta-phase for Earthrise! We're convinced that you're developing a wonderful game.