Exclusive Q&A

Joe Iuliani Posted: Oct 2, 2008 3:06 AM ET
Category: Interviews 0

Earthrise: Exclusive Q&A

MMORPG.com's Joe Iuliani recently asked ten questions of the team over at Earthrise to help us find out a little bit mroe about the upcoming sci-fi MMORPG.

MMORPG.com:	How will PVP be handled in Earthrise, will it be open world or zoned PVP?
Earthrise:	Most of Earthrise's PvP will be held in open world environment. We are strong believers that a persistent, dynamic world such as Enterra is best suited for unrestricted, natural PvP combat - from one on one struggles to mass combat siege battles.

MMORPG.com:	Players love to stand out from the crowd, what level of character customization will be seen in Earthrise?
Earthrise:	Players can expect to see character customization, similar to the big MMO titles. They can chose body size, skin color, hair, different faces and lots of clothing options. In addition to their external look, players can customize the abilities that their characters can use in Earthrise. Players will also be able to customize their weapons, armor and vehicles.
MMORPG.com:	Why the decision to use a skill based system as opposed to the traditional level based advancement?
Earthrise:	The skill based system gives much more freedom to the player when making the character template he really likes. We wanted Earthrise to offer a fresh breath of air to everyone who is tired of the class system MMOs.
MMORPG.com:	Without a level system, is there any traditional “end-game” material designed for Earthrise?
Earthrise:	The end game in Earthrise can be separated into two parts – PvE and PvP. In the PvE part players will fight the strongest monsters and will participate in the epic quests. The PvP part of the end game will be the territory conquest where players will fight to change the political map of the island. There are certainly more things that players can do during their end-game experience such as crafting the best items out of the rarest resources, becoming the most wanted criminal or the best criminal hunter, climbing the social ladder through offline gameplay and many more.

MMORPG.com:	With regard to the territorial conquests, will players have a chance to stake out their own piece of Enterra Island?
Earthrise:	Players that learn stealth-based abilities and utilize the right equipment will be able to pass through the enemy defense line undetected and gather important information about the position of defending turrets, the choice of built structures and the strategy to take them over. The defenders have the option to slowly deconstruct buildings while the battle rages or put them on self-destruct and take the enemy down with them and ultimately, decide what number of defenders will be ready the moment the siege battle starts. This is going to be a tricky operation that requires a lot of player skill and resource management because the moment the stealthy spies cannot support their level of stealth, they will be exposed.
MMORPG.com:	Will players be forced to gain reputation with any NPC factions?
Earthrise:	No, not at all. Those are voluntary jobs for everyone who will be looking to receive benefits from those factions. It will be possible to stay completely neutral during all times.
MMORPG.com:	In a market where many individuals are playing multiple games, how well do you think the casual gamer will fare in Earthrise?
Earthrise:	Casual players won't be hard-pressed to invest all of their time or make hard choices that they will regret later. The offline profession mechanic allows players to earn money even if they are not playing actively, so they won't feel like they should play every day in order to be able to afford the next great piece of equipment or stay competitive. The skill-based system allows players to learn every single skill and easily change the array of available abilities by simply re-equipping their character. This gives players a chance to experience every build early on and decide whether to specialize in one or several directions.
MMORPG.com:	On the Earthrise website, one of the unique features was listed as “deep-crafting” could you please explain that a little more?
Earthrise:	The crafting system is one of the most complex systems built in Earthrise and will allow players to craft every single usable item in the game, including mechanized exoskeletons and even buildings in their own guild's territories. The amount of options and items is truly spectacular, with each time going through several "phases" of component building before the basic resources turn into usable items for sale. Each step can be further customized by applying Designs to Technologies - little enhancements that give innate bonuses to the item.

MMORPG.com:	It was mentioned that there will be offline career advancement, will that be interactive offline or more of a “set it and forget it” element set from within the game?
Earthrise:	Offline profession is a mechanic that falls in the latter group, of the "set and forget" elements. We want players to focus on the adventuring part and leave the micromanagement of their daily labor for a short refreshing choice from time to time. The most important role of offline professions is that it provides players with small, but steady income that goes to support some of the adventuring expenses.
MMORPG.com:	It’s been stated that the best items in game will be player crafted as opposed to boss drops, do you feel that may take away some of the challenge of obtaining these items?
Earthrise:	Not at all! The amount of work needed to create some of the best items in the game will be a tremendous investment of both resources and time that we expect only a few will be able to afford, yet will be enticing as it means higher quality items with extended durability and item bonuses. Boss challenges will be an alternative source of important resources, however, that will go towards best items creation, so there will be a connection between raiding bosses and crafting the best items in the game.
MMORPG.com:	I’d like to thank you for answering 10 questions for MMORPG, but would like to indulge you for an eleventh question. Given the choice between uploading yourself to an unlimited number of clones or having super kick-ass nano tech powers, which do you choose and why?
Earthrise:	I would prefer to be a leader of Continoma and possess the technology to control everyone on the island of Enterra Why? Because both features will work for me. We possess the technology to keep and upload the human consciousness into an unlimited number of clones and we also have some special tech powers. What kind of powers? You will have to wait and see when Earthrise launches.