Let me start out by saying sorry for being so vague. I have to be, because i dont want to be banned here or anywhere else.

1st: It is a shooter, yes, but not an FPS, and not just a shooter. (FIRST person shooter), It is a third person shooter, and thus more familiar to any MMORPG player. But it also has a lot more of the MMO quality that i cant get into.

2nd: "It isn't an RPG!!!" -- You are wrong. There is much RP involved and a lot of character progression. It wouldnt be featured on mmoRPG if it wasn't. The people that run this site are not stupid.

3rd: "Its all instanced based and isnt persistant, and therefore since this is not what i am used to, this must suck" -- You are somewhat correct. The game is entirely instance based. But it is all also persistant, and trust me, it does not suck.

4th: "Only 10v10? How lame..." Yes only 10v10 at the moment. Maybe more later, but i dont think there will be. But the way it works into the game makes sense, and the matches are insanely fun. Oh, i almost forgot. It is also 100'sVs100's, but i can't say much more than that.

5th: "Mission based?" Not... really... kinda... its complicated on that one.

6th: "Deserves to be free" HAHAHA... i laugh at you. WoW deserves to be passed out like orange and yellow skittles if this deseves to be free.

I hope that helps some of you understand more somewhat. I will answer more questions as they are posed to me, but dont get angry if they are vague and barely answer your question.

are either SOE or EA involved with this game in any fashion?

I'm really excited about this game, so thanks for the info!

I have 2 questions:

1.   Is this game entirely PvP-based with quests involved, or can you quest without PvPing?

2.   What scale are the instances on? Are we talking CoD4-sized maps, or huge instances like the dungeons in WoW?

Any answer is appreciated.

Regards

Aryas

Damian- Not to the best of my knowledge. Just HiRez as far as i know.

Aryas- Np :)

1: Not ENTIRELY, there are some PvE missions you can do which will allow you to advance your character and get a feel for the real game, which is PvP, or more accurately AvA (Alliance/Agency Vs Alliance/Agency). There is not much you can do solo on most of the more difficult PvE missions tho. It is a VERY team oriented game, and will allow for easy making, finding and playing with teams. The game is very based on the warfare of the player-controled alliances. The actual lore and storyline will actually evolve as the campaigns go on between the players. This will be a very peristant world, and what you do will actually affect what happens in the game, both temporarily and permanantly. You can actually have a long lasting affect on what happens in this game, unlike most PvE based MMOs.

2: This one is harder to explain. This might make no sense, but i would have to say both are correct. There are  huge multi-layered instances that you will fight for control (much larger than any dungeons in WoW) over  and also CoD4 sized matches with specific objectives. Depending on what type of match you are playing, these could have long-term effects on what happens during the campaign, or just allow you to gain gameplay experience and advance your character.

I will answer any more questions as best i can, so fire away.

Thanks again for the info Snake.

As you seem to be the man in-the-know, I have a few more questions:

1)   You mention player actions have a significant and lasting impact on the game, does this mean:

a.   You're gonna have to play this HC to enjoy it and find a Alliance/Agency/Guild that'll take you?

b.   If you are offline for a few weeks, you're gonna fall so far behind the rest of the realm, you may as well quit?

2)   Is soloing, playing without prearranged grps or doing stuff without being in an Alliance possible?

3)   lets say you're short on time and you've only got an hour to play the game; can you do anything fun/meaningful or should you rather watch telly instead?

Thanks in advance,

Aryas

1:

a.) No, you dont need to play hardcore to enjoy it. There is a relatively (to WoW or GW or other such games) small  level of gear-advantages that hardcore players would be able to get so that they would dominate over all, like they do in the ones i mentioned; But enough so that there is a definate incentive to play the game. This is becasue it  has a big shooter elemt to the game, so skill will play the biggest part in whether or not you are good at, and/or enjor the game (The HiRez devs came on level 1's and skill kicked everyone's arses) Joining an agency/alliance would be prudent to do, yes, as most of the gameplay will be based on the conflict between these groups, but no it is not needed. Also, since the game is so heavily based around this, it will be very easy to pick between and join agencies.

b.) Not at all. You will miss a lot of the fun in the campaign, but actually, the  oppositeis true. It will be very easy for a player to miss short or long periods of time and still actively participate in the game with only a slight  disadvantage that you can easily make up by simply starting to play the game again. I cant really explain WHY this is, tho, as they haven't told anyone in the press releases.

2.) Yes, you can be a Mercenary for hire and work for an agency/alliance in their campaign against other groups. There is an ingame voice system (that should work quite well), so you wont need to join the vent/TS of the alliance to effectively communicate to them during battle. Also, how much you get paid for your services will depend on your skill and match averages. There will be an extencive listing of all (online and off) mercenaries, their detailed stats, and you will get work on that basis.

3.) Lol. Telly. And yeah, if you are only on for a short time, you can still advance you character or participate in the large scale battles. Moreover, each region in the huge map can only be attacked  during a certain time during the day, whaty time and how long will be determined by the agency leaders of the alliance that controls it. (more time, the more you get from the region). So if you are only availible at certain times of day, you can defend the region during that time, or attack the ones that are open to attack during those times. Or just go solo as a merc and get hired for battles during the time you are on.

NP. Hope that helps.

Drool@GA!

The more I hear about this game the better it sounds!

Having played WAR, there's one more question I have to ask.

On the WAR realm I played on almost everyone ended-up in one guild on the Order side (due to various reasons), which pretty much wrecked the game for me. Is there anything in place/planned to restrict the size of Agencies in GA, to ensure there is always competition?

Thanks again for you're insight, it's much appreciated.

Aryas

There is a limit yes. but i dont really think one is needed. IN WAR, WoW, DAoC, SWG there are all set things you can play for, like order or chaos, Alliance or Horde, etc, etc.  In GA, nothing is set or predetermined. You choose who is your friend or your enemy, not the game. Your alliance is automatically against all others in the game (alliances can get quite large, so its not clusterfuck of 100 alliances). So no one side gets too overpowering.

Moreover, no alliance is inherently good or bad/evil. It is just another group of players that has a global agenda differing from your own (I love the title of this game :) ). So in WoW, a lot of servers have way too many alliance, because it is the "good side" And vice versa. In GA, this problem doesn't exist.

Losing interest already if it's third-person only but I'll keep my eye on GAs development.

What exactly is "persistent" about it? 10v10 (so far) instanced battles on large urban environments sounds like Frontlines: Fuel of War maps but with fewer players. But Frontlines is just "there" like any other shooter; the map ends, check your score, go to the next. Is there a "persistent war" going on behind the scenes like Tom Clancy's EndWar where eventually your Alliance/Agency's victories or losses will count towards something "bigger" than just a leaderboard?