Earthrise features a player-run economy which sounds big and it may be hard for players to keep track of the market fluctuations. Will there be tools and data such as daily total volume sold, and average/low/high prices for various categories, available to the players who wish to speculate on the Earthrise market?

At launch, Earthrise will provide crafters and market players with all basic tools required to track the dynamics of the in-game market. We are still working on the arsenal of tools that as we work towards our projected launch date so we cannot make any promises about specialized tools at this current time. Additional tools will continue to be introduced later based on the needs of the player base and the direction of the crafting community.

A lot of emphasis has been placed on the player crafters as the primary source of items in the Earthrise economy. What role will NPC vendors have in the economy?

Despite the goal to make economy work solely among players, NPC Vendors will still exist in the game. Vendors will buy back items that, for some reason, do not find a place in the economy at the current moment, although at a price that will leave little profit opportunity. Vendors will always be the worst option for selling items - for example, Vendors will disregard any designs placed in player-crafted items when calculating their price. Vendors will also sell weapons and armor that come cheap but are designed for temporary use and targeted at helping looted players step on their feet and join the fray. These temporary items cannot be disassembled for parts, cannot be repaired and have very low durability causing them to break apart soon after they have been put to use.

Does Earthrise feature an NPC Aggression or Hate system, and how does it work?

NPC Characters will recognize Player's faction and may refuse to cooperate or outright attack. AI, however, is still in the works and we look forward to sharing more on this in the future.

Tell me about some of the PVE content - PVP offers a lot of large scale activity, is PVE similar in this regard, or is it more oriented towards smaller groups and soloing?

Questing in Earthrise will be very solo-friendly. Players will find it possible to complete most of the tasks provided by the denizens of Enterra alone, or with little help from a friend. A small part of the quests will be too challenging for a single person to tackle, but they will come in the storyline at set moments and would not require the Player to constantly seek out help. Still, it is highly advised for players to group together. While quests may require only one person to complete them, it is because of the PvP focus and the looting system in the game, that traveling in groups will ensure whatever reward is won, can be safely kept as Player's property.

Do skills have ranks? What more can you tell us to add to our understanding of the skill/ability/equipment dynamic?

Skills have ranks between 1 and 10. Spending skill points will allow Players to advance in rank, and each new rank will unlock an Ability. Ability is an action in combat, or technology in crafting. Further on, by spending additional crafting points, combat Abilities can unlock up to two Tactics slots, allowing players to place a Tactic - ability, that modifies the properties of the Ability to suit the Player's play style.

Earthrise features territories on which players can create and fight over possession of bases. Will the territories in Earthrise all be the same size?

Territories in Earthrise will have relatively the same size without feeling "cookie cutter" in nature, many will feature unique terrain that will require different tactics when it comes to attacking or defending the territory.

How are the costs of insurance policies determined, considering that the value of an item in a player-run-economy is determined by the players and will fluctuate?

Players will not insure items based on their market cost. Instead, Players will insure slots in their inventory, with each additional insured slot costing more than the previous. The cost of the insurance will fluctuate only based on Player's standings towards the faction that provides the insurance of their equipment. Players will be able to place their most precious and important items in as many insured slots as they prefer and can afford. When a character is killed, all items placed in non-insured slots are dropped and the last insured slot loses its insured status. The killer is also rewarded with money calculated based on the fraction of the price of the insurance paid for the slot that have lost its insurance status.

Are there any items in a player's possession that can't be looted even if the player did not purchase any insurance?

Quest items are one of the few types of items that cannot be looted even if they are not placed in an insured slot. Players should not worry about losing items required for the completion of quests.

Has there been a decision made about alts, given the high interest in community thread/poll on this topic, and if so, when can we expect an announcement?

The number of characters per account is still an unresolved issue but we've been watching the feedback closely. When we finalize our decision, we will come up with an announcement about it.