Perfect World International has been the cornerstone of the Perfect world Entertainment stable of MMOs. We had the opportunity to interview the team behind the game to find out what's in store for players with the new expansion, Riptide, and what's coming in the future.
MMORPG: Perfect World International has been with us now for seven years. What has that journey been like for the game?
Perfect World International: 7 years, we and the players together witnessed how the game has changed. Every change we made is the response to improve player experience. For example, we enhanced our quest gameplay by simplifying and categorizing the bloated myriad of quests, so the players can play the daily quests more easily. Most of the changes we made follow on mentality: to allow our players to focus more on the story and game mechanism, and gain more in a shorter time.
MMORPG: Last year you launched the expansion Eclipse, how have players reacted? What have you learned from the expansion?
PWI: We introduced one new race and two new classes in last year’s expansion. The players reacted very positively. They love the two new classes. However, some players pointed out that the new classes are weaker than the old ones. These feedbacks are very helpful for us to make adjustments, so the players’ experience can be further enhanced.
MMORPG: Riptide is your upcoming expansion this month. Tell us about the theme behind such a great underwater landscape?
PWI: This time we will be fighting against the maritime folk of Shoka. They are somewhat similar to the Tideborn race we have, but only more dark and sinister. So basically, the new underwater area will be beautiful sceneries intertwined with dark Shoka architecture. We believe the contrast will visually impact out players.
MMORPG: The artwork and visuals are beautiful in Riptide, what was it like working on the environments and characters?
PWI: An underwater are could be very different than the real world, since we live on land. When we were designing the scenes and the creatures, we have to make them beautiful, and they should make sense underwater. It is an unprecedented task to accomplish, and we hope have accomplished it perfectly!
MMORPG: Tell us about the Star Charts. How will players be able to use them to progress?
PWI: The star chart system can enhance the player’s stats, as well as granting them new abilities. More importantly, the growth of the star chart is highly customizable, so players have to put in a great amount of effort in developing it. They can use different combinations to overcome different obstacles.
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MMORPG: What types of monsters and challenges await players underwater in this new expansion?
PWI: They will run into sea creatures, abysmal monsters, and pirates, etc. It will be a tough ride, I am telling you.
MMORPG: Can you give us a hint on what Perfect World has in store for us going into 2016?
PWI: We have already started designing new content. As the cross-server feature is launched, the future additions may be closely related to cross-server gameplay. Players can play the game with friends of the same server, as well as those from other servers.
