We got the chance to submit some listener (and host :) ) questions to the Devs over at Masthead Studios who are developing the upcoming MMO, "Earthrise."

Atanas Atanasov, CEO at Masthead Studios, sent us back his answers which we've posted up on our podcast website at www.wife-aggro.com/podcasts

Enjoy.

-Sethanon

It is too bad that Earthrise is a PvP centric game. I guess I probably won't be playing then.

What you mean? If you manages to play a PvE MMO, then you are ready.

Nice, good read :)

Sounds interesting, but the bit where they say all players must participate in PVE to advance their character put me off a bit.

If this game is meant to be PVP centric why should PVPers have to PVE to advance their character?

Edit: here is the quote btw

"The world will be immersive and the PvP will be part of the engaging gameplay. However, the player advancement will be linked to PvE, which means that everyone must engage in PvE in order to advance its character."

Because leveling by PvP hasn't been succesfully done yet it is a darey novelty to most producers. They rather stick to the same old same old. It is true that to get rid of leveling thru PvE requires experimentation. Bad thing almost no producer tries it.

I think there's a thin line between being truely innovative and creating a niche game.

Most Dev teams will say that they're just trying to create the best game they can while being true to their vision but I think in the back of their minds they're all hoping to create the next million subcriber break out game (WoW's numbers are a freak in the industry so I'm basing my comments on the *other* successful MMOs).

So, I think they're willing to slide in some innovation here and there but shy away from drastic gameplay changes for fear that they'll alienate too many MMO gamers.

The PVE / PVP / Player Created Item trinity have become the 3 pillars that MMO games become successful on. And there's historic examples of games that have tried to exclude one of these 3 and either failed outright or had to come back later and add them in due to player pressure *cough* Guild Wars *cough* City of Heroes *cough*.

Alot of money goes into the creation of an MMO these days. The dev teams where a handful of guys can rent a house and some computer equipment and kick out an Asheron's Call are awful rare any more. So it's only fair to give a team a break when they're designing to a well known audiance.

I do think Masthead is to be recognized for trying some new things here. As are some other groups out there who are pushing the envelope a little one what the MMO norms are.

We're working on getting an interview scheduled with these guys for our show, so please keep up the questions and comments. Maybe we can get them answered for you. And you never know, maybe it'll prompt MMORPG to give Earthrise an actual link from the, "Games in Development" part of their forums page.

Originally posted by complexiator

Because leveling by PvP hasn't been succesfully done yet it is a darey novelty to most producers. They rather stick to the same old same old. It is true that to get rid of leveling thru PvE requires experimentation. Bad thing almost no producer tries it.

  The truth is....leveling in PvP is either too easy or too much bother.  See, they can't JUST place an XP reward on each players head because then players will trade-farm each other for quick levels.  Unless you use level-xp loss on PvP death...but then you start to run players off the ideal of PvPing at all...ever.  The other choice is to tie the XP into quest-type victory conditions.  But...then you see, you aren't leveling at all if you aren't winning.  Which means the victors not only WIN but also ensure they will keep winning by doing so.

  See?  Gotta have a way to level without PvP, and if that is going to be the case...then the only way to set an even playing field for all players is to tie such a thing into PvE for everyone.  Its not about experimentation, its about people who will stop at nothing to exploit anything...especially a system as easy to exploit as this.

I was under the impression this game is skill based not level based, which is why I don't understand why you can not just PvP to advance your character without participating in PvE.

As for leveling by PvP (assuming the game had levels even though I am sure it does not) you can solve the main problem of people farming particuler players for experience by having a severe decrease in experience gained from the person every time you kill them. Perhaps 25% decreased experience each time, means 4 kills and then you get no experience from that player for an half an hour/hour.

You can also make it so that items degrade in a similar fashion  therefore discouraging you to keep getting yourself killed as well as creating another need for crafters to keep creating gear for players. or reason for players to keep killing each other for gear.

I play LOTRO PvPM, where you get XP for killings (called Infamy) to enhance your char, and it works. But is mostly a RvR gameplay.

Originally posted by Teiman

I play LOTRO PvPM, where you get XP for killings (called Infamy) to enhance your char, and it works. But is mostly a RvR gameplay.

And also, in LotRo you almost don't loose anything when you get killed.

 Advance your character not level your character. Could mean exploring to find a passageway really.