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February 18, 2011
Lineage 2 - High Five Q&A with Steve Chae
This article originally appeared on tentonhammer.com on Tue, Feb 15, 2011. By Jeff Woleslagle.
Development director details latest content update for Lineage 2
Ten Ton Hammer: Hi Steve!
Steve Chae: Hello! Thank you for taking the time for this interview.
Steve Chae: We plan on launching the update February 15th, to get that question out of the way. Since the last couple of years haven’t really had any major updates, we took the time to get a lot of feedback from our players and customers and this is what we’re rolling out—a patch for the players.
For any major MMORPG, of course it’s important to provide a lot of major updates, but it’s also important to provide continuous updates. Instead of having major updates every 1-2 years, we’ve broken them up into monthly or more often than that even updates. That’s the idea behind High Five—a stream of updates for the players, requested by the players.
High Five will be appreciated by the West, but we’ve actually collected data and feedback from all regions to create this patch. Our hope and our wish is that the players will play the High Five updates and enjoy Lineage II now more than ever.
Ten Ton Hammer: A quick question about how the feedback was gathered. From North America to Asia, did you get different kinds of feedback? Is the West getting a different version of High Five, or is it the same across the board?
Steve Chae: What we do in Korea is that they collect feedback through various channels, such as forum posts, and any in-game reports or mail we receive. Sometimes we invite feedback directly in-game as well. We then go through it, analyze it, and this is the result. The patch we’re rolling out is similar on both servers.
Steve Chae: As far as those bullet points go, there isn’t one particular feature that we have focused on. The feedback they got from the players was just to enhance everything already in the game, and that’s the general direction we took this patch. We took the existing gameplay and expanded on it, and made it better. It’s now more exciting and with the Grand Olympiad, the players will be able to make it more exciting for themselves!
Ten Ton Hammer: Are the features of High Five focusing on veteran players exclusively? Or is there anything in this update geared for newer players?
Steve Chae: We didn’t include any specific updates for new users, but with the updates across the board, even new users will be happier.
Ten Ton Hammer: Can you tell me anything about the new hunting zones? We know that one is indoors and the other outdoors, but do you have any more details to spare?
Steve Chae: The new outdoors zone is a hunting ground, and the new indoors zone is actually instanced. They took existing zone ideas and wanted to make them better and take them a step further. We took the existing content that players loved and enhanced the difficulty a notch.
Steve Chae: A couple of things. Current zones will benefit from the class-specific and balance changes, and we’ve made some of the older group content slightly easier to make for a more enjoyable experience. Regarding group play, we found that a lot of players were having difficulty with the level 79 content. So we brought that down a fair bit and we’re hoping that this update brings people together and makes group play a much more viable option, now that it’s not as stressful.
Ten Ton Hammer: For my last question, regarding the changes you’re making with the Grand Olympiad, this isn’t going to be a temporary or seasonal content idea. Can you share any of your future plans for it? Will there be more quests, or more stadiums?
Steve Chae: For the Grand Olympiad changes being made with this update, the two main goals were to provide more fair gameplay for users, and also to provide them with more diverse and a more fun platform to play in. As far as future plans for the Olympiad, we are definitely making more things for the future. In the grand scheme of things though, players will eventually be able to battle cross-server and bring the tight communities of Lineage closer. Look forward to it!
Ten Ton Hammer: Thank you very much for your time, Steve. We look forward to the patch going live later today!
This article originally appeared on massively.joystiq.com on Tue, Feb 15, 2011. by Jef Reahard
High Five brings a new hunting system to the table as well as several Grand Olympiad enhancements (including new stadiums, visuals, daily quests, and rewards), difficulty tweaks on epic bosses, and matching system improvements designed to encourage more players to participate in raids and epic battles.
To mark the occasion, we nabbed an interview with Lineage II lead developer Steve Chae, so head past the cut to learn more about what's in store for you courtesy of the new update.
Massively: With the huge number of skill additions (as well as the new raid bosses and whatnot), it seems like the game is undergoing quite a significant change. Can you talk a little bit about the thought process behind these sweeping additions? Why now? Did the players request all these new skills?
Steve Chae: It's been a while since our last major update, and balance within the game is constantly shifting and evolving. Based on all these constant and continuous changes, we felt that it was really important to listen to and meet the needs of our players by revamping skills and bosses in line with the ever-evolving nature of the game. It seemed like a good time to go over the past seven years of content updates and make improvements where necessary.
Steve Chae: It's been a while since our last major update, and balance within the game is constantly shifting and evolving. Based on all these constant and continuous changes, we felt that it was really important to listen to and meet the needs of our players by revamping skills and bosses in line with the ever-evolving nature of the game. It seemed like a good time to go over the past seven years of content updates and make improvements where necessary.
Speaking of player feedback, NCsoft is talking up the fact that the High Five update was largely player-driven. For those who may have missed out on the chance to give feedback, what is the best way for players to communicate their desires? Are there certain official channels that are actively monitored or was the update the result of general feedback gathering?
We have very open lines of communication with our GM and Customer Service departments -- we talk to them on a daily basis. We listen to their experiences with the community and also to the feedback that they collect from the players themselves and try to reflect that in our development. Aside from that, we are constantly going through the player forums and listening to what our community wants through fan gatherings and meet and greets.
We have very open lines of communication with our GM and Customer Service departments -- we talk to them on a daily basis. We listen to their experiences with the community and also to the feedback that they collect from the players themselves and try to reflect that in our development. Aside from that, we are constantly going through the player forums and listening to what our community wants through fan gatherings and meet and greets.
We've heard tell of lowered difficulty on epic bosses. Can you give us specifics? All epic bosses? If not, which ones? Also, are the encounter mechanics being adjusted or is it a matter of lower boss health (or higher player abilities)?
Currently, Lineage II boasts an extremely high number of raid bosses. We haven't gone in and made revisions or changes to all of them, but we went in and revamped the bosses that we felt needed changes to accommodate the current game status. Each boss revamp is different and suits that character, so you'll really have to come face to face with each one to see how different and more exciting they have become. As you and our players know, raids are all about strategy! So we'd like to challenge everyone to find their own ways and methods of taking the new bosses down.
Currently, Lineage II boasts an extremely high number of raid bosses. We haven't gone in and made revisions or changes to all of them, but we went in and revamped the bosses that we felt needed changes to accommodate the current game status. Each boss revamp is different and suits that character, so you'll really have to come face to face with each one to see how different and more exciting they have become. As you and our players know, raids are all about strategy! So we'd like to challenge everyone to find their own ways and methods of taking the new bosses down.
How do the matching systems work? Is it like traditional looking-for-group tools in that it lists similar classes/levels/desired encounters or is there a bit more under the hood?
For Olympiad, opponents are now matched based on similar point levels rather than being selected randomly. For Party matching, players can now search by name or class, and they can display a user's class, location, and determine whether they are in an instanced dungeon.
For Olympiad, opponents are now matched based on similar point levels rather than being selected randomly. For Party matching, players can now search by name or class, and they can display a user's class, location, and determine whether they are in an instanced dungeon.
Lineage II is still hugely popular in the east, but here in America it's taken a bit of a back seat to more traditional western MMOs as well as newer eastern imports. Is this High Five update part of a larger initiative to keep the game visible, and if so, can you talk about other plans for the game (long or short-term)?
High Five is all about meeting player demands; it's only the beginning. In the future, we plan on rolling out more long-term changes to make Lineage II more fun and exciting, and major patches like this are just one sign of commitment we've made to accommodate the ever-evolving playstyles and preferences of our players. We're hopeful that we'll continue to make and develop a game that only gets better and better.
High Five is all about meeting player demands; it's only the beginning. In the future, we plan on rolling out more long-term changes to make Lineage II more fun and exciting, and major patches like this are just one sign of commitment we've made to accommodate the ever-evolving playstyles and preferences of our players. We're hopeful that we'll continue to make and develop a game that only gets better and better.
Along the same lines, what separates Lineage II from other current MMOs -- i.e., what do you feel is the game's biggest selling point for someone who either hasn't played it yet or hasn't played it in a long while?
The beauty of Lineage II lies in its complexity, easy-to-manage control system, beautiful graphics and rich content. It's been seven years since the game launched, but the graphics of Lineage II are still some of the most captivating of all MMOs out on the market today. At the same time, characters are still easy to control so that new players can jump right into the game and maneuver through the game with ease. And at the end of the day, you can't beat seven years' worth of rich storylines and lore, which all add up to Lineage II's being a captivating MMO.
Thanks for chatting with us, Steve!
The beauty of Lineage II lies in its complexity, easy-to-manage control system, beautiful graphics and rich content. It's been seven years since the game launched, but the graphics of Lineage II are still some of the most captivating of all MMOs out on the market today. At the same time, characters are still easy to control so that new players can jump right into the game and maneuver through the game with ease. And at the end of the day, you can't beat seven years' worth of rich storylines and lore, which all add up to Lineage II's being a captivating MMO.
Thanks for chatting with us, Steve!