Interview with Matt Firor (DAoC Producer)

Flimgoblin

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Original in german:
http://www.gamona.de/index.php?sektion=magazin&ausgabe=30&seite=93#anfang

A translated summary by IarnGreiper:

Since the interview is printed in German language I will condense the important stuff in english (or what I suppose to be English), my comments are in brackets, some parts are difficult to condense since they contain only marking gibberish:

Release: first week of October (US), maybe Dezember in Euope [I bet not before February]
beta: starting tomorrow, colsed beta for one or two weeks, then more testers are added [sound pretty strange to me, maybe we are the people to be added]. The added testers have to register [?? at least in German this is worded very vague].
Euro patches: Mythic and GOA want to reduce delay to a single month. Mythic takes the responsibility of the long delays inbetween US and EU patches

DR goals: new possibility to acquire weapons. Weapons will be tailored towards the class
Horses. Advanced horses are part of the champion quest.

DR content: Most of DR will blend into existing zones, which are almost forgotten. At a certain point the quest will turn underground and players will discover new zones.

instancing: Most of DR will not be instanced and in normal outdoor zones. However there will be a few instanced dungeons for specific quest parts. Aditionally there will be a large dungeon for every realm, which is not instanced.

instanced RvR: Matt dodges a little, however instanced RvR seems to be dead.

[I skip some unimportant stuff about the delay of horses and if doac is sinmply following the mmorpg trend]

DR level target: highlevel, Champion quest starts at level 45

DR and RvR: Champion weapns will impact RvR since they will be more accesible than artifacts for a number of playsers. DR will not impact the game in the scope of RAs otr MLs.

bringing back retired players: Catacombs already aimed for bringing back players and acquiring new players because of ease and fun of leveling

DR distribution: Us download, EU to be determined

state of daoc: more competition on the marktet, after WoW player numbers took a dent, but are rising again

classic servers: not aimed to improve the player numbers [Matt dodging again], nothing new

level 50: RAs, MLs and champion levels all give the oportunity to develop without rising the level 50 threshold

[some I,perator stuff skipped]
WO: in the pre production phase
EU office: no info yet

sony station exchange:
(amusement), never be implemented in daoc ow WO no comment on future games
 

Flimgoblin

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complete text in german from the article:

DAoC - Entwickler-Interview
von Nedzad Hurabasic

Während der Games Convention hatten wir die Gelegenheit ein ausführliches Interview mit Matt Firor von Mythic Entertainment zu führen. Der Leitende Producer und Vize-Präsident der Entwicklungsabteilung beim US-Unternehmen nahm sich die Zeit mit uns über das kommende Addon Darkness Rising zum Online Rollenspiel Dark Age of Camelot (DAoC) zu sprechen.

Darkness Rising wird als viertes Bezahl-Addon zum erfolgreichen MMO-Veteranen veröffentlicht werden und stand im Mittelpunkt des Interviews. Als thematischer Hintergrund wird in allen drei verfeindeten Reichen (Albion, Midgard udn Hibernia) eine Rebellion ausbrechen, die von geheimnisvollen, dunklen Kräften iniziiert wurde. In ziemlich lauter Umgebung nahm Matt Firor Stellung zu veschiedenen Fragen rund um die Erweiterung und andere Projekte des Entwicklers.

Frage: Wie ist der derzeitige Status der Entwicklung von Dark Age of Camelot: Darkness Rising und wie sehen eure Beta-Test-Pläne dafür aus? Wann soll die Erweiterung veröffentlicht werden?

"Darkness Rising wird in Amerika in der ersten Oktober-Woche an den Start gehen. In Europa wird es vermutlich zwei Monate danachveröffentlicht, möglicherweise also im Dezember. Allerdings bin ich da nicht sicher, da dies in GOAs Bereich fällt (GOA ist der europäische Publisher des Spiels - Anm. d. Verf.). Die Entwicklung schreitet sehr gut voran, wir starten die US-Beta am kommenden Montag (22. August. - d. Verfasser)."

Frage: Wird die Beta öffentlich zugänglich sein?

"Die ersten ein bis zwei Wochen der Testphase werden hinter verschlossenen Türen stattfinden. Danach werden wir sukzessive mehr Spieler einladen. Aber auch dann wird sie nicht für jeden zugänglich sein, man wird sich für die Teilnahme anmelden müssen."

Frage: Du erwähntest, dass die europäische Version von Darkness Rising erst einige Monate nach der US-Version veröffentlicht wird. Wie steht Mythic in diesem Zusammenhang zu dem großen zeitlichen Abstand, der zwischen den amerikanischen und europäischen Updates besteht und werdet ihr etwas dagegen unternehmen?

"Der Zeitabstand ist augenscheinlich zu lang. Den "Schwarzen Peter" muss man aber uns zuschieben und nicht GOA. Das liegt daran, dass die Übersetzungs-Tools, die wie zur Verfügung gestellt haben, wirklich nicht die besten sind. Wir tun alles, um den Prozess der Übersetzungen zu beschleunigen und möchten die Zeitspanne zwischen US- und EU- Version auf einen Monat (derzeit sind es drei bis vier Monate) verkürzen. Wir arbeiten derzeit gemeinsam mit GOA daran, den Lokalisierungsprozess glatt zu schleifen. Wir wissen, dass es frustrierend ist und wir haben wirklich ein schlechtes Gewissen deswegen."

Frage: Welche Ziele verfolgt ihr mit Darkness Rising und welche sind die wichtigsten neuen Bestandteile des Addons?

"Es gibt eine ganze Reihe von Zielen, die wir mit Darkness Rising verfolgen. Zum einen möchten wir den Spielern eine neue Möglichkeit geben, bessere Waffen zu erhalten. Dies können sie mit der neuen Champions-Quest erreichen und als Belohnung wird es eine Champions-Waffe geben. Jede Klasse wird eine spezifisch auf sie zugeschnittene Waffe erhalten können. Im Grunde wird der Spieler die Wahl haben entweder eine Waffe herstellen zu lassen, sie im ToA-Gebiet (Trials of Atlantis) zu erbeuten (Artefaktwaffen) oder sich im Zuge der neuen Quest auszustatten.

Als Nächstes gibt es nach vier Jahren Camelot - endlich - von Spielern steuerbare, private Pferde (grinst). Wir haben es also endlich geschafft sie einzubauen und auch sie sind ein Bestandteil der Champions-Quest. Allerdings werden auch Spieler, die Darkness Rising nicht kaufen werden, ein Standard-Pferd erweben und sich damit fortbewegen können.
Die so genannten "Advanced Horses" werden aber nur mit Darkness Rising zugänglich sein. Das Aussehen dieser besonderen Reittiere kann verändert werden indem Sattel ausgetauscht werden können, die Farbe verändert, verschiedene Gegenstände angebracht werden können usw."

Frage: Nachdem ihr mit den vorherigen Erweiterungen neue Kontinente, neue Unterwasser- und neue Untergrund-Zonen eingeführt habt: Welche neuen Gebiete wird es diesmal geben?

"Mit Darkness Rising werden wir im Vergleich zu den anderen Erweiterungen eine kleine Richtungsänderung vornehmen. Statteinfach nur einen neuen Kontinent oder Untergrund-Areale hinzuzufügen, wird die Champions-Quest die Spieler an altbekannte Orte führen, die sie vermutlich schon eine ganze Weile nicht mehr besucht haben. Es geht also mehr darum die Gamer wieder an die alten Gebiete heranzuführen und dort die Rebellion aufdecken und bekämpfen zu lassen. Wenn sie schließlich an einen bestimmten Punkt der Quest angelangen, werden sie sich in den Untergrund bewegen müssen und neuere Zonen erkunden, wo einige neue Inhalte präsentiert werden."

Frage: Wie groß wird diesmal der Anteil der so genannten instanzierten Zonen am neuen Content sein? Dieses Prinzip habt ihr ja mit DAoC:
Catacombs für euch entdeckt.

"Darkness Rising wird wohl größtenteils nicht instanziert sein. Die meisten Inhalte werden überirdisch, in normalen Zonen zu finden sein. Es wird einige Dungeon-Instanzen für ein paar spezifische Teile der Quests geben und dann wird es einen großen Dungeon für jedes Reich geben, der in keinster Weise instanziert sein wird."

Frage: Und wie sieht es mit dem vor einiger Zeit angekündigten Instanced-RvR aus? Habt ihr diese Idee wieder fallen gelassen? (RvR ist die DAoC-Variante des PvP = Spieler gegen Spieler)

"Wir haben es nicht gestrichen, wir

haben stattdessen die RvR-Quests implementiert. Der Grund ist, dass wir eingesehen haben, dass DAoC kein instanziertes RvR-Spiel ist. Es dreht sich alles darum Festungen einzunehmen, um Belagerungen, Relikte zu stehlen. Und instanziertes 8vs8 RvR würde uns davon wegführen. Wir wollen nicht, dass die Spieler sich in instanzierten Zonen bekämpfen, wenn es dazu doch die Schlachtfelder gibt. Instanzierte 8vs8-Kämpfe mögen nett sein, aber es nicht das, worum es bei DAoC geht."

Frage: Ohne Frage ist die Einführung von privaten Reittieren für die Spieler der meistdiskutierte und am meisten herbeigesehnte Programmpunkt. Warum hat es so lange gedauert, wir haben lange darauf warten müssen?

"Irgendwie gab es in den letzten vier Jahren immer irgendetwas Wichtigeres zu tun, als Privat-Pferde ins Spiel zu bringen. Es lief immer nach demselben Schema: 'Ja, wir wollen es tun, aber wir müssen zuerst New Frontiers machen oder wir müssen etwas anderes bearbeiten'. Es rutschte immer wieder von der Liste der ganz wichtigen Dinge. Es war sicherlich nicht die beste Lösung es solange vor uns herzuschieben, aber wenigstens haben wir es dieses Mal geschafft."

Frage: Habt ihr das Feature nicht gerade jetzt implementiert, weil fast alle Konkurrenzprodukte wie z.B. WoW über eine Art Reittier oder andere Fahrzeuge verfügen und ihr nun einfach nachziehen musstet?

"Nicht unbedingt deswegen, sondern weil wir es eigentlich schon die ganze Zeit tun wollten. Und natürlich kamen Everquest 2 und WoW heraus und sie hatten Reittiere und sie sahen cool aus. Aber wir haben sie ins Spiel gebracht als wir dazu bereit waren und das ist jetzt."

Frage: Werden die Inhalte von Darkness Rising für alle Spielstufen zugänglich sein und inwiefern wird es neue Inhalte für den Reichskampf geben?

"Wir haben versucht unterschiedliche Addons für DAoC zu veröffentlichen, sodass es für niedrige, mittlere und Highlevel-Charaktere etwas zu entdecken gibt. ToA war eher für Highlevel-Spieler, Catacombs dafür
mehr für Low-Level bis Highlevel. Darkness Rising wird diesmal eher Highlevel-Spieler-Content einführen. Die Champion-Quest kann mit Spielstufe 45 angefangen werden und auf diese Spieler ist das Addon auch ausgerichtet."

Frage: Und wie sieht es mit dem zweiten Teil der Frage aus, also damit, welcher Aspekt von Darkness Rising das RvR beeinflusst?

"Nun, die RvR-Elemente in Darkness Rising sind offensichtlich die neuen Champion-Waffen, die wir ins Spiel bringen. Diese neuen Waffen sollen so mächtig sein wie die Waffen aus den ToA-Arealen. Sie werden die Stärke eines Charakters nicht erhöhen, aber sie werden es den Spielern ermöglichen, mit ein bisschen weniger Aufwand an coole Waffen zu gelangen. Dies wird natürlich auch einen Effekt auf das RvR haben, da mehr Spieler über bessere Waffen verfügen werden als bisher. Es wird aber keine größeren Änderungen verursachen, wie sie z.B. durch Masterlevel oder Reichsfähigkeiten ausgelöst wurden."

Frage: Warum sollten Online Gamer eigentlich mit Darkness Rising plötzlich anfangen DAoC zu spielen und warum sollten ehemalige Spieler darüber nachdenken zurückzukehren?

"Nun, neue Spieler sollten eigentlich aufgrund von Catacombs, unserer letzten Erweiterung, mit der wir große Änderungen am Aussehen der Spielwelt vorgenommen haben und auf den derzeitigen Stand der Technik gebracht haben, anfangen zu spielen. Außerdem integrierten wir instanzierte Dungeons und machten es einfacher im Level aufzusteigen. Es war nie einfacher in DaoC zu leveln als jetzt. Es ist nun sehr einfach, Mitspieler zu finden und in Dungeons Aufträge zu erfüllen. Darkness Rising ändert daran eigentlich nicht viel, weil es eine Expansion für Highlevel-Spieler ist."

Frage: Auf welche Weise werden europäische Spieler das Addon nach erfolgter Lokalisierung erstehen können? In Amerika wird das Spiel bekanntlich per Download an die Spieler gebracht
"Ja, in Amerika wird es via Download erhältlich sein, wir wissen aber noch nicht, wie GOA es in den Handel bringen wird. Ich weiß es wirklich nicht."

Frage: Kannst du uns einen aktuellen Stand zum Zustand von DaoC geben? Es gibt, wie wir ja schon besprochen haben, eine ganze Menge Konkurrenz dort draußen. Wie sehr hat DAoC darunter gelitten?

"Yeah, offensichtlich ist das Jahr 2005 das Jahr, in dem die Konkurrenz auf den Markt der MMOs drängt. Für Spieler ist das natürlich eine gute Situation. Es gibt so viele Games dort draußen, dass er die Qual der Wahl hat. Das bedeutet eigentlich, dass für alle Spiele die Anzahl der Gamergeringer wird. Glücklicherweise für alle, hat World of WarCraft (WoW) eine Menge neuer Spieler für MMOs interessiert. Nun, unsere Abonennten-Zahlen sind tatsächlich ein wenig zurückgegangen (laut Aussage eines GOA-Mitarbeiters gibt es derzeit etwa ein Drittel weniger Spieler in Europa, als zum Höhepunkt des Spiels. Konkrete Zahlen nannte M. Firor für die USA jedoch nicht - d. Verf). Das ist aber kein ernsthaftes Problem, obwohl es eins hätte sein können. Der Grund dafür ist, dass z.B. WoW-Spieler sich dort ein wenig umsehen und nach einer Weile vielleicht auch etwas Neues ausprobieren wollen. In Amerika haben wir derzeit einige hundert neue Spieler täglich. Gleich nach dem Launch von WoW gingen unsere Zahlen deutlich runter, man konnte es ja an den Statistiken für die Server ablesen. Nun steigen die Spielerzahlen wieder."

Frage: Haben die neuen Server, die mit neuen Regeln quasi "Back to the Roots" gehen diesen Umschwung bewirkt oder wurden sie sogar aufgestellt, um alte Spieler wieder anzulocken?

"Nein, nicht unbedingt, dafür gibt es eine Menge Gründe. Aber es könnte einer der Gründe sein. Es ist bei jedem neuen Server, den wir starten so - egal ob wir neue Inhalte präsentieren oder nicht - dass eine Menge neuer Spieler angezogen werden. Meist geht es darum, dass sie auf neuen Servern alle bei null
anfangen und sie daher das Gefühl haben mithalten zu können. Also hätten wir auch einen normalen neuen Server starten können und er wäre vermutlich genauso erfolgreich gewesen, wie jetzt die drei neuen Server. Wir wollten den Spielern einfach die Möglichkeit eines "light"-Gameplays geben, wo sie sich nicht um ToA-Ausrüstung oder Fähigkeiten Gedanken machen müssen und nicht gegen Spieler antreten müssen, die Mithilfe eines Buff-Bots spielen. Sie müssen also nicht mehr unbedingt in Konkurrenz zu Leuten treten, die über deutlich bessere Ausrüstung verfügen."

Frage: Ist es eigentlich sicher, dass die Grenze für die höchste Spielstufe bei Level 50 bleiben wird?

"Wir geben den Spielern gern die Möglichkeit im Level zu steigen, dabei aber nicht die Begrenzung von Level 50 zu erhöhen. Wenn man darüber nachdenkt, haben die Reichfähigkeiten den Spielern ja schon erlaubt, diese Grenze zu überschreiten. Ein Spieler mit Reichsfähigkeiten ist deutlich besser als jemand, der ohne auskommen muss und auch denselben Level erklommen hat. Die Masterlevel waren eine ähnliche Möglichkeit den eigenen Charakter weiterzuentwickeln. Und nun führen wir die Championlevel ein. Wir erhöhen zwar die Macht des Spielers, aber ohne die Grenze von Level 50 zu verändern."

Frage: Die Championfähigkeitenwerden also keinen Einfluss auf das RvR haben?

"Nein, nur die Waffen. Das ist alles."

Frage: Zum Schluss noch ein anderes Thema, Mythic arbeitet ja nicht nur an DAoC. Jetzt mal ehrlich: Der kürzlich veröffentlichte Entwicklungsstopp von Imperator ist doch eigentlich gleichbedeutend mit dem Ende des Spiels oder?

"Nun, wir haben die Arbeit daran gestoppt. Das heißt aber nicht, dass wir zu einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt in der Zukunft die Entwicklung nicht wieder aufnehmen könnten. Wir haben uns, nachdem wir die Warhammer Online-Lizenz erhalten haben, wirklich ganz genau angesehen, was alles vor uns liegt. Die Welt hatte sich urplötzlich verändert. Es machte für uns mehr Sinn unsere Bemühungen hinsichtlich Warhammer zu verlagern und Imperator musste bedauerlicherweise darunter leiden. Wir haben uns also entschieden, Imperator zunächst einmal zurückzustellen und uns auf Warhammer und DAoC zu konzentrieren."

Frage: Gibt es neue Fakten zur Entwicklung von Warhammer Online?

"Nein, dazu ist es wirklich zu früh. Wir haben ja gerade erst vor zwei Monaten den Vertrag unterzeichnet. Momentan arbeiten wir mit Games Workshop an den Grundzügen des Designs. Wir sind also in der ersten Phase der Vor-Produktion."

Frage: Habt ihr die Pläne mit einem Büro nach Europa zu kommen mit dem Entwicklungsstopp für Imperator aufgegeben oder werden hinsichtlich Warhammer nun ähnliche Ziele verfolgt?

"Es ist wirklich viel zu früh etwas darüber zu sagen. Wir wissen es noch nicht."

Frage: Wie steht ihr eigentlich zu Sonys Station Exchange? Allzu glücklich dürftet ihr doch nicht darüber sein, dass ein Konkurrent das ermöglicht, was ihr - auch mit rechtlichen Mitteln - bei eurem Spiel zu verhindern versucht (Die Rede ist
vom Kauf und Verkauf von virtuellen Gegenständen gegen reales Geld).

(Lacht laut): "Sie haben offensichtlich eine Entscheidung getroffen. Wenn man sich anguckt, was sie getan haben, dann handelt es sich um einen speziellen Server. Wer also auf diesem Server einen Charakter erstellt, der weiß, worauf er sich da einlässt. Ich habe da kein Problem damit. Wenn man die Entscheidung trifft auf einem Server zu spielen, auf dem Gegenstände gekauft werden können, dann gehört das eben zum Gameplay dieses Servers. Viele koreanische und japanische Spiele beinhalten diese Option von Beginn an und niemand beschwert sich darüber. In DAoC ist es nicht richtig, weil man dort gegen andere Spieler kämpft und wir wollen nicht, dass ein Spieler deshalb gegen einen anderen gewinnt der vielleicht seit mehreren Jahren spielt, nur weil er Dinge einsetzen kann, die er von einem anderen Spieler gekauft hat. Wir werden es nicht für DAoC einführen, ich möchte Sony dafür aber auch nicht kritisieren. Wenn man den Leuten im Vorfeld klar macht, worum es geht, dann ist es kein Problem."

Frage: Kannst du also für Mythic definitiv bestätigen, dass ihr sowas nicht einführen werdet?

"Naja, sag niemals nie. Wie werden es nicht in DAoC haben, soviel kann ich dir sagen. Auch bei Warhammer wird es das nicht geben. Aber wer weiß, was die Zukunft bringen wird?"

Matt, danke, dass du dir die Zeit genommen hast

"Danke Dir!"
 

Thorwyn

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Joined
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Made a quick, sloppy translation. Sorry about any typos, bad spelling and grammar. :)

hf


-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Q: What´s the current developement status of Darkness Rising and what do the beta testing schedules look like? When will DR be released?

A: US release of DR will be the first week of October. The european release will presumably be two months later, possibly in December. However, I can´t say for sure, since this is the responsibility of GoA. The developement seems to progress pretty well though, we´re gonna start the US beta next monday (22.08.)

Q: Is this an open beta?

A: The frirst 1-2 weeks will be closed beta. After that, we´re gonna gradually invite more and more players. But even then, it won´t be a totally open beta, people need to register in order to receive an invitation.

Q: You mentioned that the european version of DR will be released a couple months after US. Whas Mythics position about the rather large delay between EU and US patches and are there any actions planned to reduce those delays?

A: The delay is obviously rather long. But we´re the ones to blame here, not GoA. The reason is, that our translation tools are not the best. We´re doing our best to accelerate the process or translation and aim to reduce the gap between EU and US to one month (it´s 3-4 months currently). We´re working together with GoA to smoothen the process of localization. We´re aware that it´s frustrating and got a bad concience about that.

Q: What are your goals for DR and what are the new elements of the AddOn?

A: There are a couple of goals for DR. First off, we want to provide new ways of getting better weapons to the players. Those can be obtained viathe new Champion Quests, and as a reward, you´ll get a champion weapon. Each class will have a specifically designed weapon. Basically, the player will have the choice of a crafted weapon, or getting the weapon in ToA (artifact weapons), or equip themselves via the champion quests.

Then, after four years, we´re finally gonna introduce private, controllable mounts. (*grins*) We finally managed to realise this feature and they´re part of the champion quests as well. However, even the players who´re not gonna use DR will have access to standard mounts to move around with.
The so called "Advanced horses" will be accessible with DR only though. The look of those special mounts can be changed by replacing saddles, changing the colours or attach certain items.

Q: After introducing new contonents, new under-water and underground areas in the AddOns so far: what kind of new areas will be in DR?

A: DR will introduce a slight change of direction here. Instead of just adding new continents or underground areas, the champion quests will lead players to already known zones that he presumably hasn´t visited for quite a while. The focus is to re-introduce the players to those old zones, detect the rebellion and fight it there. Finally, when you´ve reached certain steps in those quests, you´ll have to enter dungeons and explore the new underground zones, where serveral new features will be introduced.


Q: How large will the ratio of instanced dungeons in the new content; since you just introduced this game mechanism in Catacombs.

A: DR will mostly NOT be instanced. The majority of the content will be on the surface, in the normal zones. There will be some dungeon-instances for specific parts of the quests and there will be one large dungeon for each realm, which is not instanced.

Q: What about the instanced RvR that you´ve announced a while ago? Did you drop that idea again?

A: We didn´t drop the idea, we replaced it with the RvR quests. The reason is, that we realised that DAoC is not an instanced RvR game. The key of the game is to conquer keeps, sieges, relics. Instanced 8v8 RvR would be a step away from this key. We don´t want players to fight each other in instances, when there´s a battlefield. Instanced 8v8 fights may be nice, but that´s not what DAoC is about.

Q: Without a doubt, the introduction of private mounts is the most intensely discussed new feature. Why did we have to wait for so long?

A: Somehow, there was always something more important to work on in the past four years, than private mounts. It was always the same pattern: Yes, we want to do it, but have to do New Frontiers first, or have to work on something different. Somehow, it always slipped off our high priority ToDo list. It certainy wasn´t the perfect solution to put it off for so long, but at least we managed to do it now.

Q: Didn´t you introduce the feature at this point, because all competitors like WoW already have private mounts or vehicles and you had to respond to that?

A: Not really. It´s more that we wanted to introduce the feature for quite a while. And of course, EQ2 and WoW were released and they had mounts and they looked cool. But we introduced them at a point where we were ready to do it and that´s now.

Q: Will the content of DR be accessible to all levels and will there be new features for RvR?

A: We tried to release different AddOns for DAoC, so that low level, mid-level and high level chars had something to explore. ToA was more focused on high level players, Catacombs more low to high level. DR will have more high level content. One can start the champion quest at level 45 and that´s the level range DR is focused on.

Q: What about the second part of the question, which aspect of DR will have an effect on RvR?


A: Well, the RvR elements in DR are obviously the new champion weapons that will be introduced. Those weapons should be as powerful as the weapons from ToA areas. They (the quests?) won´t increase the power of a character, but they will enable the characters to get cool weapons with a little less effort than before. There won´t be any major changes though, like in the past the impact of masterlevels or realmabilities.


Q: Why should online gamers start playing DAoC with DR and why should ex players start thinking about coming back to DAoC?

A: New players should start playing because of Catacombs, our last AddOn, in which we changed the look of the world and raised it to the current technical state of the art. And we introduced instanced dungeons, making it easier to level up. It was never easier to play DAoC than it is now. It´s quite easy to find groups and solve dungeon tasks. DR doesn´t change this, becuse it´s a high level expansion.

Q: How will eurpean players be able to obtain the AddOn after localization is done? In the US, the AddOn will be availabls via download.

A: Yes, in US you can download it. We don´t know yet how GoA will distribute it. I really don´t know.

Q: Can you give us a hint about the current state of DAoC? AS we said earlier, there are a number of competitors out there. How much did DAoC suffer from that?

A: Yeah, obviously, 2005 is the year where the competitors are pushing themselves into the MMO market. That´s a good situation for the players of course. There are so many games out there that he got all the choices. That means that the playerpool for each game is getting smaller. Fortunately for everyone, WoW managed to activate many new players to MMORPGs. Well, indeed, the ammount of abonements has decreased a bit (note: according to a GoA representative, there are currently a third less players playing the game compared to it´s peaktime, no concrete numbers were given away though). But that´s not a serious problem, although it could have been one. The reason is, that for example WoW players will try and take a look there, then maybe change and want to try something new. In the US, we´re currently having a couple hundred new players every day. Right after launch of WoW, the numbers decreased significantl, one could see it at the server statistics. Now, the playerbase is increasing again.

Q: Are the new servers, which are going "back to the roots", responsible for the turn, or did you even introduce them in order to reactivate old players?

A: No, not neccessarily. There a number of reasons. But it could be one of the reasons. It´s the same with every new server we launch, regardless whether there´s new content or not, that a number of new players are attracted. Mostly it´s the fact that everyone has to start from scratch on new servers, so you get the feeling of being able to compete. So we might as well could have started a normal new server and it probably would have been as successful as the three new servers are now. We just wanted to give the players an opportunity for a "light"-gameplay, where they don´t have to bother about ToA equipment or abilities and won´t have to fight players with buffbot support. They wouldn´t have to compete with people who´re having a superiour equipment.

Q: Is it fixed, that the level limit will stay at 50?

A: We like to give players the opportunity to increase their level, but not go past the lvl 50 mark. If you´re thinking about it, the RA´s already do that. A player with RA´s is significantly better than someone without, but is still the same level. Masterlevels are another opportunity to develop the character even further. And now we´re introducing the champion levels. We´re increasing the power of the character, but do´nt change the level 50 mark.

Q: So the champion abilities will have an impact on RvR?


A: No, just the weapons, that´s all

Q: Something different for the last part: Mythic doesn´t exclusively work on DAoC. Seriously: the recently announced stop of the Imperator project is the equivalent of the end of the game, right?

A: Well, we stopped working on it but that doesn´t mean that we´re not going to start working on it again at some point in the future. After achieving the Warhammer Online licence, we took a close look at what´s lying ahead of us. The world had suddenly changed. It made much more sense for us to focus our efforts on Warhammer and sadly, Imperator had to suffer from that. So we decided to stop it and concentrate on Warhammer and DAoC:

Q: Are there any new facts about the developement of Warhammer Online?

A: No, that´s far too early at the moment. We just signed the contracts two months ago. Currently, we´re working on the basic design with Games Workshop. So we´re still in the first step of the developement, the pre-production.

Q: Did your plans to launch a european department stop when IMperator stopped, or do you have similar plans for Warhammer Online?

A: It´s too early to say something. We don´t now yet.


Q: What´s your stance on the Sony Station Exchange? You´re probably not exactly happy that one competitor introduced something that you´re trying to fight - even by legal ways.

(lol´s)
A: They obviously made a decision. If you look at what they´ve done, it´s all about one specific server. Whoever is rolling a char on that server knows what he´s doing. I don´t have a problem with that. If you make the decision to be able to buy items on that server, then that´s part of the gameplay of that server. Many japanese and korean games are supporting that option right from the start and nobody complains. In DAoC, it´s just not right because you´re fighting against other people here and we don´t want one player to win against someone, who´s been playing for years maybe, just because he´s able to use items that he bought from another player. We won´t introduce this for DAoC, but I don´t want to criticize SOny for doing it. If you´re telling it to the players right from the start, it´s not a problem.

Q: Can you definitely say that Mythic will never introduce something like this?

A: Well, never say never. We eo´nt have it in DAoC, that much I can say. And we won´t see it in Warhammer. But who knows that the future brings us.
 

Himse

FH is my second home
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Messages
2,179
Thorwyn[B&Q] said:
Made a quick, sloppy translation. Sorry about any typos, bad spelling and grammar. :)

hf


-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Q: What´s the current developement status of Darkness Rising and what do the beta testing schedules look like? When will DR be released?

A: US release of DR will be the first week of October. The european release will presumably be two months later, possibly in December. However, I can´t say for sure, since this is the responsibility of GoA. The developement seems to progress pretty well though, we´re gonna start the US beta next monday (22.08.)

Q: Is this an open beta?

A: The frirst 1-2 weeks will be closed beta. After that, we´re gonna gradually invite more and more players. But even then, it won´t be a totally open beta, people need to register in order to receive an invitation.

Q: You mentioned that the european version of DR will be released a couple months after US. Whas Mythics position about the rather large delay between EU and US patches and are there any actions planned to reduce those delays?

A: The delay is obviously rather long. But we´re the ones to blame here, not GoA. The reason is, that our translation tools are not the best. We´re doing our best to accelerate the process or translation and aim to reduce the gap between EU and US to one month (it´s 3-4 months currently). We´re working together with GoA to smoothen the process of localization. We´re aware that it´s frustrating and got a bad concience about that.

Q: What are your goals for DR and what are the new elements of the AddOn?

A: There are a couple of goals for DR. First off, we want to provide new ways of getting better weapons to the players. Those can be obtained viathe new Champion Quests, and as a reward, you´ll get a champion weapon. Each class will have a specifically designed weapon. Basically, the player will have the choice of a crafted weapon, or getting the weapon in ToA (artifact weapons), or equip themselves via the champion quests.

Then, after four years, we´re finally gonna introduce private, controllable mounts. (*grins*) We finally managed to realise this feature and they´re part of the champion quests as well. However, even the players who´re not gonna use DR will have access to standard mounts to move around with.
The so called "Advanced horses" will be accessible with DR only though. The look of those special mounts can be changed by replacing saddles, changing the colours or attach certain items.

Q: After introducing new contonents, new under-water and underground areas in the AddOns so far: what kind of new areas will be in DR?

A: DR will introduce a slight change of direction here. Instead of just adding new continents or underground areas, the champion quests will lead players to already known zones that he presumably hasn´t visited for quite a while. The focus is to re-introduce the players to those old zones, detect the rebellion and fight it there. Finally, when you´ve reached certain steps in those quests, you´ll have to enter dungeons and explore the new underground zones, where serveral new features will be introduced.


Q: How large will the ratio of instanced dungeons in the new content; since you just introduced this game mechanism in Catacombs.

A: DR will mostly NOT be instanced. The majority of the content will be on the surface, in the normal zones. There will be some dungeon-instances for specific parts of the quests and there will be one large dungeon for each realm, which is not instanced.

Q: What about the instanced RvR that you´ve announced a while ago? Did you drop that idea again?

A: We didn´t drop the idea, we replaced it with the RvR quests. The reason is, that we realised that DAoC is not an instanced RvR game. The key of the game is to conquer keeps, sieges, relics. Instanced 8v8 RvR would be a step away from this key. We don´t want players to fight each other in instances, when there´s a battlefield. Instanced 8v8 fights may be nice, but that´s not what DAoC is about.

Q: Without a doubt, the introduction of private mounts is the most intensely discussed new feature. Why did we have to wait for so long?

A: Somehow, there was always something more important to work on in the past four years, than private mounts. It was always the same pattern: Yes, we want to do it, but have to do New Frontiers first, or have to work on something different. Somehow, it always slipped off our high priority ToDo list. It certainy wasn´t the perfect solution to put it off for so long, but at least we managed to do it now.

Q: Didn´t you introduce the feature at this point, because all competitors like WoW already have private mounts or vehicles and you had to respond to that?

A: Not really. It´s more that we wanted to introduce the feature for quite a while. And of course, EQ2 and WoW were released and they had mounts and they looked cool. But we introduced them at a point where we were ready to do it and that´s now.

Q: Will the content of DR be accessible to all levels and will there be new features for RvR?

A: We tried to release different AddOns for DAoC, so that low level, mid-level and high level chars had something to explore. ToA was more focused on high level players, Catacombs more low to high level. DR will have more high level content. One can start the champion quest at level 45 and that´s the level range DR is focused on.

Q: What about the second part of the question, which aspect of DR will have an effect on RvR?


A: Well, the RvR elements in DR are obviously the new champion weapons that will be introduced. Those weapons should be as powerful as the weapons from ToA areas. They (the quests?) won´t increase the power of a character, but they will enable the characters to get cool weapons with a little less effort than before. There won´t be any major changes though, like in the past the impact of masterlevels or realmabilities.


Q: Why should online gamers start playing DAoC with DR and why should ex players start thinking about coming back to DAoC?

A: New players should start playing because of Catacombs, our last AddOn, in which we changed the look of the world and raised it to the current technical state of the art. And we introduced instanced dungeons, making it easier to level up. It was never easier to play DAoC than it is now. It´s quite easy to find groups and solve dungeon tasks. DR doesn´t change this, becuse it´s a high level expansion.

Q: How will eurpean players be able to obtain the AddOn after localization is done? In the US, the AddOn will be availabls via download.

A: Yes, in US you can download it. We don´t know yet how GoA will distribute it. I really don´t know.

Q: Can you give us a hint about the current state of DAoC? AS we said earlier, there are a number of competitors out there. How much did DAoC suffer from that?

A: Yeah, obviously, 2005 is the year where the competitors are pushing themselves into the MMO market. That´s a good situation for the players of course. There are so many games out there that he got all the choices. That means that the playerpool for each game is getting smaller. Fortunately for everyone, WoW managed to activate many new players to MMORPGs. Well, indeed, the ammount of abonements has decreased a bit (note: according to a GoA representative, there are currently a third less players playing the game compared to it´s peaktime, no concrete numbers were given away though). But that´s not a serious problem, although it could have been one. The reason is, that for example WoW players will try and take a look there, then maybe change and want to try something new. In the US, we´re currently having a couple hundred new players every day. Right after launch of WoW, the numbers decreased significantl, one could see it at the server statistics. Now, the playerbase is increasing again.

Q: Are the new servers, which are going "back to the roots", responsible for the turn, or did you even introduce them in order to reactivate old players?

A: No, not neccessarily. There a number of reasons. But it could be one of the reasons. It´s the same with every new server we launch, regardless whether there´s new content or not, that a number of new players are attracted. Mostly it´s the fact that everyone has to start from scratch on new servers, so you get the feeling of being able to compete. So we might as well could have started a normal new server and it probably would have been as successful as the three new servers are now. We just wanted to give the players an opportunity for a "light"-gameplay, where they don´t have to bother about ToA equipment or abilities and won´t have to fight players with buffbot support. They wouldn´t have to compete with people who´re having a superiour equipment.

Q: Is it fixed, that the level limit will stay at 50?

A: We like to give players the opportunity to increase their level, but not go past the lvl 50 mark. If you´re thinking about it, the RA´s already do that. A player with RA´s is significantly better than someone without, but is still the same level. Masterlevels are another opportunity to develop the character even further. And now we´re introducing the champion levels. We´re increasing the power of the character, but do´nt change the level 50 mark.

Q: So the champion abilities will have an impact on RvR?


A: No, just the weapons, that´s all

Q: Something different for the last part: Mythic doesn´t exclusively work on DAoC. Seriously: the recently announced stop of the Imperator project is the equivalent of the end of the game, right?

A: Well, we stopped working on it but that doesn´t mean that we´re not going to start working on it again at some point in the future. After achieving the Warhammer Online licence, we took a close look at what´s lying ahead of us. The world had suddenly changed. It made much more sense for us to focus our efforts on Warhammer and sadly, Imperator had to suffer from that. So we decided to stop it and concentrate on Warhammer and DAoC:

Q: Are there any new facts about the developement of Warhammer Online?

A: No, that´s far too early at the moment. We just signed the contracts two months ago. Currently, we´re working on the basic design with Games Workshop. So we´re still in the first step of the developement, the pre-production.

Q: Did your plans to launch a european department stop when IMperator stopped, or do you have similar plans for Warhammer Online?

A: It´s too early to say something. We don´t now yet.


Q: What´s your stance on the Sony Station Exchange? You´re probably not exactly happy that one competitor introduced something that you´re trying to fight - even by legal ways.

(lol´s)
A: They obviously made a decision. If you look at what they´ve done, it´s all about one specific server. Whoever is rolling a char on that server knows what he´s doing. I don´t have a problem with that. If you make the decision to be able to buy items on that server, then that´s part of the gameplay of that server. Many japanese and korean games are supporting that option right from the start and nobody complains. In DAoC, it´s just not right because you´re fighting against other people here and we don´t want one player to win against someone, who´s been playing for years maybe, just because he´s able to use items that he bought from another player. We won´t introduce this for DAoC, but I don´t want to criticize SOny for doing it. If you´re telling it to the players right from the start, it´s not a problem.

Q: Can you definitely say that Mythic will never introduce something like this?

A: Well, never say never. We eo´nt have it in DAoC, that much I can say. And we won´t see it in Warhammer. But who knows that the future brings us.

ty for that :D was a nice interesting read, but they should work on daoc and improve it rather than doing Warhammer online.
 

Fana

Fledgling Freddie
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Himse said:
ty for that :D was a nice interesting read, but they should work on daoc and improve it rather than doing Warhammer online.

I hope Warhammer online will be DAoC2 in all but name tbh :)
Oh and great translation Thorwyn :D
 

Elvo^Rylu

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I hope we get the option between downlaoding the game and buying the box.

I like the boxes.
 

Cirandi

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Elvo^Rylu said:
I hope we get the option between downlaoding the game and buying the box.

I like the boxes.

And i like the download :D

This is the internet age fgs, if i have to wait 4 days for a program to land in my mailbox it's not worth buying... I want to buy it online and start gaming an hour later hehe.
 

SkarIronfist

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Thanks for the translation. Actually an interesting interview for a change. Its nice to see people answer questions without skirting around the issue.
 

Chrystina

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I met him at the developer conference in Leipzig and we had a quick chat after his talk about the future of MMO's (in which he clearly named WoW as the benchmark for the next 5 years).
He dodged questions about classic servers and why they opened them.
He also mentioned he doesn't play DAoC anymore himself, heh... :touch:
And yes, account selling on eBay is OK with them in USA because, after all, someone spent lots of time in playing their characters and might as well get something from it. :m00:
Oh, and when asked why patches take forever to be send to GOA for translation and stuff he asked about the WoW patch delay. The answer "one day" left him a bit speechless... :fluffle:
 

Infanity

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One quick thing ..

Q: So the champion abilities will have an impact on RvR?


A: No, just the weapons, that´s all

It wont have an impact on rvr, Just the weapons ? i thought we used weapons in rvr, Surely someone who spent time doing the quests, Will have a better weapon, with better things, Making them better in RvR? or this could just be me ^^
 

Thorwyn

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for clarification purposes: the german text says that the champion abilities or champion levels (Championfähigkeiten) won´t have an impact on RvR. The Champion wepaons will have. I`m not sure what those Champion abiloities are, since there´s no further explanation in the interview. Sounds strange, but that´s what the text says. :)

Sorry about the confusion. To an extend, even the german text wasn´t 100% clear at some points.
 

Jaem-

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Didn't someone say ToA wouldn't effect RvR too? :m00:
 

Flimgoblin

It's my birthday today!
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fl3a said:
but they removed all proof of it and deny it :)

they used time machines to remove the postings before they were made!

or possibly someone misinterpreted something ;)

Thing to note: the interview was apparently conducted in english and translated into german so it's been translated twice to get thorwyn's version above.
 

Takhasis

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Flimgoblin said:
snip...
Thing to note: the interview was apparently conducted in english and translated into german so it's been translated twice to get thorwyn's version above.

Reminds me of game u used to play as a kid - chinese whispers ;)
 

Shanaia

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Jaem- said:
Didn't someone say ToA wouldn't effect RvR too? :m00:

nope no-one ever said that but keep repeating it often enough and it will magicly become true!
 

IainC

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Nobody ever said that ToA wouldn't affect RvR. What was said was that ToA was not an RvR expansion. As all the content for ToA is exclusively PvE content with the sole exception of Celestius, that is entirely true. At the time that ToA was being developed, the players were expecting an RvR focussed expansion, it was asked whether ToA was that expansion and Mythic said no. Somehow through constant repetition, this has magically become 'Mythic said that ToA would not affect RvR'.
 

Chronictank

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lol champion lvls wont affect rvr,
next hell be saying they have improved patch translation times to 1h

having a sub spec really doesnt affect rvr at all, and mounts giving all classes access to speed doesnt make any difference... really
 

IainC

English WAR Community Manager
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Chronictank said:
lol champion lvls wont affect rvr,
next hell be saying they have improved patch translation times to 1h

having a sub spec really doesnt affect rvr at all, and mounts giving all classes access to speed doesnt make any difference... really
That's not what he said. He said that 'There won´t be any major changes though, like in the past the impact of masterlevels or realmabilities.'
Anything that adds to your character, any equipment, abilities or whatever could potentially have an effect in RvR unless it's pure fluff liek new skins or whatever.
Also the new horses are a long way from replacing speed classes or even caster speed. 135% to run speed is less than the grey speed song for speed classes and just less than blue caster speed. It just means that solo tanks don't have to spend all their time running from the stable to the exp zone.
 

Flimgoblin

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Chronictank said:
lol champion lvls wont affect rvr,
next hell be saying they have improved patch translation times to 1h

having a sub spec really doesnt affect rvr at all, and mounts giving all classes access to speed doesnt make any difference... really

horses don't work inside buildings ;) so if yer fighting in towers and keeps...

could say that "won't affect RvR" means that RvR will still involve taking keeps and towers and relics... might affect how you play your individual character (the pvp bit)... but now I'm being pedantic.

I am a bit skeptical at champion level abilities not affecting RvR - personally I was hoping they would but in a minor way (e.g. giving more secondary heals, secondary resists that don't stack but mean a PuG might do a bit better and stuff).
Reading other things they've mentioned stuff in the grab bag like being able to apply bandages or the like till a cleric can get to you - that sounds like it might have a minor effect on RvR to me - maybe it's limited to pve zones.

Random comment: I want a lance.
 

Fana

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Flimgoblin said:
horses don't work inside buildings ;) so if yer fighting in towers and keeps...

could say that "won't affect RvR" means that RvR will still involve taking keeps and towers and relics... might affect how you play your individual character (the pvp bit)... but now I'm being pedantic.

I am a bit skeptical at champion level abilities not affecting RvR - personally I was hoping they would but in a minor way (e.g. giving more secondary heals, secondary resists that don't stack but mean a PuG might do a bit better and stuff).
Reading other things they've mentioned stuff in the grab bag like being able to apply bandages or the like till a cleric can get to you - that sounds like it might have a minor effect on RvR to me - maybe it's limited to pve zones.

Random comment: I want a lance.

Well ofc champion levels will affect rvr, since each of the 5 levels add a minor health and power upgrade to your character. And lets not forget the secondary skills you will be able to take that will certainly add more utility to some classes than others.

I imagine a 1 vs 1, both equally skilled, where one character is ToA'd+Champ'ed, and the other only ToA'd, will mean a definite advantage to the champ. Same in group vs group where most in one group are champ'ed and none in other group etc.

Still its not supposed to require hardcore gaming to get champ levels done so hopefully it wont be a problem, also considering the upgrades will be rather minor compared to ToA :)
 

Achilles

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Thorwyn[B&Q] said:
.'Matt Firor' said:
We´re aware that it´s frustrating and got a bad concience about that.

Yes, i am sure it keeps you awake at night mate.^^;p Especially on that bed of money you sleep on.
Finally they are cutting down on the delay between US and EU patches:)shame it took 4 years to happen.
Thanks for the translation Thorwyn:).
 

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