North American producer Adam Davidson talks about Lineage II’s 5th Chronicle
By Michael Lafferty

“We make a point to pay close attention to the community and really consider the feedback we get from them”

The chronicles keep on coming, and the gameplay gets deeper.

But if you are NCsoft, how do you continually come up with the content for the next installment of the Lineage II saga.

That was the question GameZone.com wished to ask and so we turned to Adam Davidson, the North American producer of the game.

Lineage II has just released it’s 5th chronicle (or expansion, if you prefer) entitled Oath of Blood. The questions we asked Adam focused on that chronicle.

Question: Oath of Blood added content across the board for players, but if you had to single out the items that received the most attention with this chronicle, what would they be?

Adam: Well, the two that I would look to first are the changes to the clan system and the inclusion of the Demon Sword Zariche, but for very different reasons. The new clan system has a fairly major impact on the social and game dynamics facing the high-end game. Alliances can no longer be a conglomeration of several smaller clans, but instead are restricted to three, however, the size and capabilities of the clans are significantly increased, and promote taking in lower level players to develop them. The Demon Sword Zariche, however, impacts very few players, but our community has become pretty enamored with the concept of the item and the uniqueness of it in contrast with the rest of the weapons of Lineage II. We saw a great deal more buzz and excitement for this item than we expected.

Q:  The game continues to evolve and get better. Are you taking your cue from the community, or is this something that was pre-planned and is slowly being implemented?

Adam: Both, certainly. We make a point to pay close attention to the community and really consider the feedback we get from them. In addition, though, there has been a remarkable long term vision for the title and, as time passes, it’s very exciting to continue to see complementary systems and features join the suite already in game. The vision of the team at Studio E&G has been quite solid, but at the same time they’ve remained flexible and nimble enough to consider the real-time input we see from not just our community, but all communities world-wide. We really do consider all changes and adjustments in a global sense.

Q: The game was designed, originally, for the Asian gaming market. That gaming style is rather different from the North American market. How has Lineage II evolved to suit the style of play of the North American market?

Adam: Chronicle 5’s increased “soloability” is probably the most noticeable effort, amongst many other more subtle ones. We’ve continued to work towards making the early gameplay experience one that caters to a variety of play-styles, not solely those preferred in Asia. By making it faster and easier to progress through the early stages of the game, we hope to usher players through the learning phases and into the meat-and-potatoes of the product, the high-end game, in a more reasonable timeframe.

Q: How do you ascertain what items will be unique, in terms of drops and such, when it comes to creating a new chronicle, like Oath of Blood?

Adam: In the case of Chronicle 5, even though we included a variety of different items in general, there is only one truly unique item. Usually these are created with the thought that it is going to be unique and therefore the criteria for acquiring it must be different from traditional items and still exciting to the majority of players. This was designed by Studio E&G in Seoul, but we also test the effects of the special items here in North America, as well as provide internal and community feedback, before launching the Chronicle.

Q:. The game continues to hold its own visually with the current MMOs on the market. Is this something that you pay attention to when designing new areas?

Adam: Absolutely. It’s important to make new content compelling and easy on the eyes. After all, the goal is to get the players over there and checking it out. We’re also fortunate in that E&G is loaded with talented and highly creative artists, with a wonderful unified vision for the unique visual style of the game.

Q: You have done a very good job at policing players violating the EULA. Since your crackdown, do you see less people trying to subvert the rules?

Adam: Unfortunately no, this is an on-going process that we are diligent about. Players and farmers will always try to find a way to get by you, but for distinctly different reasons. Those who seek to farm in-game assets and sell them for real-world capital are out to make a profit. They are businesses, first and foremost, and when we stop them you can be sure they are hard at work finding another way to get back to what they do. More traditional players who cheat are just plain cheaters. Sometimes we’ll be able to scare many off when they realize that there are potential consequences to their actions, and that they don’t want to lose the time they’ve invested in the game. For others, the fun to them is the abuse itself, and they will do whatever they can to keep doing so until they are ultimately caught. The persistence from both groups really keeps us on our toes and drives us to continually work to find more effective and efficient ways of keeping the game clean – and fun – for our legitimate players.

Q: What is your favorite addition brought to the fore by Oath of Blood?

Adam: Frintezza and his organ. Just kidding, but he is a pretty cool boss encounter, legitimately different from those in the previous Chronicles. Again, I think the most important additions to the title are the features that benefit the new players to the game, and make their transition into the world of Aden more enjoyable. The increased ability to play solo is one, and the Academy feature which has just been added to the clan system is the other. The last thing we want to see is a high barrier of entry keeping players from checking out the best parts of the game.

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