Interviews
Interview - 6/11/04
Chronicle 1 for Lineage II set to launch June 28; Exclusive interview and screenshots
“It is not for the timid!”
Get ready, boys and girls, elves, dark elves, Orcs and dwarves – the long awaited patch for Lineage II: The Chaotic Chronicles is almost upon us.
On Monday, June 28th, NCsoft will be releasing the patch. GameZone.com had the opportunity to speak with the North American producer, Aaron Rigby, about what Chronicle 1 will be bringing to the table. Aaron is a very busy man, but managed to take a few moments to talk quickly with us in this exclusive interview about the release date and content of the first chapter in the Lineage II saga.
For the North American game, Chronicle 1 will upgrade Lineage II to the same version as that being played in the Korean market. L2 was launched there in late September of 2003, but Chronicle 1 was not applied to the game until January 21, 2004. Until that point, much like in the NA market, the game was in the Prelude stage.
Question: Chronicle 1 will be pulling the game up to par with the version of the title that was released in late September in Korea. How big will this patch be and what are the major changes or additions to the game?
Aaron: We consider Chronicle 1 more of an add-on pack than a patch. It’s a huge amount of new content for players. There are dozens of new areas, including the territory of Aden, which includes a massive castle, and the dragon Antharas’ lair in Giran’s territory. Chronicle 1 puts the US version within a few weeks of the Korean version.
We have a test server available now for current players who want a sneak peak at the first Chronicle. The official release will be on Monday, June 28th. Players can expect the patch to be around 250mb.
Q: Will the player interface undergo any changes? Will the clan system remain the same as it is?
Aaron: The interface is always being tweaked, especially when trying to accommodate new features. We’ve made some additions to the chat functions and new options to adjust gameplay and performance. Performance is a large factor when hundreds of players are attacking each other in a siege or against Antharas.
Clans will now be able to progress to levels 4 and 5. That will allow the purchasing of a clan house and includes a higher member cap, siege participation, castle control, alliances, and, of course, clan wars. It will make for some interesting politics in the Lineage II world when you consider the amount of power this grants the players.
Q: Explain how the castle siege will work within the confines of Chronicle 1? How is, if at all, the PvP and karma system being tweaked?
Aaron: There are five castles that can be clan-controlled in each Lineage II world. These yield enormous benefits to the clan that holds them, including the ability to hire NPC mercenaries to help with defense, upgrading the castle itself, and manipulating the tax rate of its associated town.
However, clans can only hold a castle for two weeks before another siege occurs. That gives other clan leaders the ability to register at the castle to participate in the next siege, either as attackers or defenders of the controlling clan.
This is where the PvP adjustments are most obvious. In the zone surrounding a castle during a siege, no one’s Karma is damaged and there is no risk of item loss. The Karma system is also adjusted in the case of declared clan wars. For normal PvP, there are few adjustments, though we are still evaluating feedback on that system, so there isn’t anything major to report. While there are Peace Zones for players to relax and socialize, the big prizes come only to those willing to take a risk. It is not for the timid!
Q: How will memory leaks, and/or other bugs be addressed? Will the patch make it easier to spot bots and make it harder on uber-farming, or is that being addressed in other ways?
Aaron: This is something that’s been noted with duration players, and now that the cause is nailed down I’m confident we can kill it. We are also seeing changes in the code for bot prevention and an updated support system.
Beyond the game itself, our support departments have been crucial in tracking any unusual activity within the game.
Q: What role will Antharas, the Earth Dragon, play and what other new mobs might we see?
Aaron: Antharas is the land dragon of the Giran territory. He’s about 60 feet tall and very ill tempered. Attacking Antharas is an added bonus to high-level players who find even a castle siege tame, but they’ll need to bring a lot of friends to survive!
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