MMORPG.com: Vindictus continues to bring high quality content to the online space, tell us what this new patch will do for the game.
Matthew McCullough: Secrets of the Crystals brings a new Season 2 episode to Vindictus, where players must scale the treacherous mountainside of the Misty Summit. As with any episodic update to Vindictus, there are new items and weapons to be had!
MMORPG.com: Misty Summit is the new zone with the patch; what can players expect to find there?
Matthew McCullough: It is a towering cliff-side zone where players must brave rickety bridges and mining lifts to progress. The local gremlins utilize mechanical constructs to ambush any would-be adventurers, so players have to be careful. Misty Summit follows the same zone structure as previous episodes of Season 2, so all of its bosses can be encountered in a single run.
MMORPG.com: Give us some background and lore on the Misty Summit. What were some of the influences for the zone?
Matthew McCullough: Ergs, the crystals used to do battle against the Formors, are in short supply. Mercenaries are dispatched to the Misty Summit on Royal orders to investigate the cause of the shortage. There, they encounter a new Formor type, the Gremlin, and embark on a quest to defend the kingdom's leaders. Misty Summit is heavily influenced by the steampunk subgenre. Players will encounter monsters strapped to Da Vinci's flying machine and face the Gremlins' twisted versions of his war machines as boss monsters.
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MMORPG.com: How will this new zone work with the monster system in the game?
Matthew McCullough: In the Misty Summit area, a few new monster systems are being introduced. For example, in the Revenger system there is a chance that Vengeful Langro will appear when the player defeats a boss monster, prompting the player to take on the battle once more. There's also a possibility the player will run into a Unique monster in the battle area. So these systems will help to make the battles feel a little different every time a player enters them.
MMORPG.com: Tell us about how the Vengeful Langro works.
Matthew McCullough: Each time a boss in Misty Summit is defeated, there is a chance that the Vengeful Langro will appear to get revenge on the Mercenaries for defiling the Misty Summit. Vengeful Langro is a golem formed from rocks and debris from all over the cliff-side.
MMORPG.com: This patch comes with a hint of new crafting. What are your plans for this system?
Matthew McCullough: Some of the items from Episode 1 and 2 will be used as materials for Item Crafting in episode 3. This change was implemented to balance the number of items from each episode. Now, no matter what episode a player is enjoying, they will always receive useful items. This isn't necessarily a definitive change to item crafting- as the game evolves, we try to have the in-game economy evolve with it, so we may improve it even more down the line.
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MMORPG.com: What does Vindictus schedule look like going into 2014? Do you have plans for more updates?
Matthew McCullough: Yes, we have a bunch of new content coming in the first and second quarters of 2014. We're adding a PvP arena, a new mini-game and a complete Season 2, Episode 4 update with four new types of raids.
We're also implementing several bug fixes and other patches to generally improve the game. Some of the changes include an item lock function, improvements to lag, an ID sharing inventory, an expansion to the Hero Battle system, avatar dyes, character balancing and more tutorials to help guide new players into Vindictus.
