Ryan "Blackguard" Shwayder Interview - 02/08/06
Voice-overs were a great feature for EverQuest II but it seemed to fade away with the first expansion. Will there be any voice added in this expansion? If not, why?
Blackguard - We will indeed, but not for quests at the start. What isn't immediately apparent is how far in advance something has to be done in order for it to get VO. Additionally, once an NPC has VO, you can't add anything to that NPC again, nor can you change the text. In order to ensure that we can polish, change, add to, and fix things during Beta testing, most quest NPCs will not have VO when we launch.
There will still be combat voiceover for most anything in the expansion, and it's definitely possible that we'll add VO to KoS as we can in the future. But the quick answer is: Quest NPCs will not have VO at KoS launch because we want to be able to polish the expansion for the entire duration of Beta.
Tamat - At the Community Summit in August there was talk about eventually changing how rival cities will function. It was said that in the future you would be able to kill guards and NPCs in rival cities that would affect certain factions. Is this something we can expect in upcoming PvP additions?
Blackguard - This is definitely something you can expect on the upcoming PvP servers. City PvP is outlined in a recent feature on our website. Basically, if you attack an enemy NPC within city limits, you will be flagged for City PvP. For 15 minutes after your last hostile action against a city NPC or another player flagged for City PvP, you will open to be attacked by everyone. If a player attacks a City PvP flagged player, they get flagged as well, and so on.
Will this be coming to PvE servers? Not in the same form as on PvP servers, at least not at first. On PvE servers we currently plan to open up guards and any other NPCs we decide to flag as attackable by players. We'd like to get this in at the same time as Kingdom of Sky launch, likely with more additions and refinements to the system afterwards.
Tamat - Can you give us any information that we haven't heard yet about this expansions storyline?
Blackguard - The storyline of Kingdom of Sky was actually hinted at in the stories within Desert of Flames. Specifically, in the stories of the djinn and efreeti, there was mention of a fabled Overrealm. Well, that's where Kingdom of Sky takes place.
There are floating islands floating high above the surface of Norrath in an area known as the Overrealm. These floating isles are thought to have somehow leaked out of the planes sometime during the Age of War, though their very existence was veiled from the surface up until now.
The specific area within the Overrealm that you will be exploring in Kingdom of Sky is known as the Dragon Isles. It is a realm of strife and unrest-a kingdom made turbulent by an epic struggle between great dragons. Not all heroes are suited to take on these new dangers, so enter the Overrealm only if you are confident of your place in the world of Norrath as a powerful villain or great hero.
And for something else that is ingrained deeply in the lore of Norrath (teaser): That giant sword you've seen in screenshots? You can get it, and you can use it.
Tamat - Can you give us any information about the new achievement system that will be introduced in Kingdom of Sky?
Blackguard - Achievements are something you earn primarily during the course of normal gameplay. You'll get achievement points for completing non-repeatable quests suited to your character's level, defeating powerful creatures, looting rare treasures, exploring the world and discovering to areas, and advancing your character's level.
Essentially what they do is allow for you to further define the way you want to play, giving you more meaningful choices to make throughout the progression of your character. You will earn new powers to specialize your character with, but be aware that these are important decisions, as you will not be able to learn all of the specialties and must instead carve your own path.
Examples would include the ability for a Warrior to customize their fighting style by training in the weapon of their choice, or a Mage choosing what arcane abilities they want to focus on, augmenting their power over the arcane to suit their play style.
You'll be spending points on your new Achievements in the way you desire by progressing down specific trees for your class. You can choose to select a diverse array of Achievements, or focus more on one or two paths. Many of the abilities in the Achievement system have multiple ranks-the more you choose to advance a certain ability, the more powerful it becomes. But you can also invest in a broad spectrum of abilities, making your character more diverse without being as focused on one or two trees.
The Achievements system is about making meaningful decisions on your path to power, enabling you to be heroic or villainous in the way you choose. It rewards gaining knowledge and experience within the world of EverQuest II as you go along with further enhancement to your character.
Tamat - Is anything changing with the tradeskill system? Rumors of a tradeskill revamp have been flying around for months now and many members of the community have assumed that we would see it happen in this expansion.
Blackguard - We're removing subcombines. That's the gist of it. Subcombines are not the fun part of crafting; making cool stuff is. The removal of subcombines will let crafters make the products they want to make without the hassle of creating numerous other subcomponents before getting to the final product.
Any further changes to the crafting system would take place after we see how this change pans out. We think you'll find that it's a lot more enjoyable after we make the change.
Tamat - Can we get a sneak preview of some of the new Heritage Quests this expansion will include? Hints? Names?
Blackguard - No names, because that would remove the fun of being the first to discover them! I can, however, give you a few hints. Think Gnomes. Think about something you've seen prominently in EverQuest II but haven't been able to use. Think about a legendary item that would make almost too much sense to have in an expansion about dragons. Each of those sentences is independent and will lead you to the knowledge of three different Heritage rewards.
Tamat - Will signature quests reward more status then heritage quests?
Blackguard - Signature Quests will not reward status points. That's one of the things that makes them different than a Heritage Quests, other than the obvious fact that they are items that are unique to EverQuest II. Because they don't reward status, we can reward even more powerful and interesting items than you've discovered in Heritage Quests.
Tamat - Profession armor is a feature that is very exciting. Will there be full sets of this armor for each class?
Blackguard - Yes, there will be full sets of armor for each class. There's a lot of new and nice looking armor going in with Kingdom of Sky, and every class will have the opportunity to obtain something cool. Not all of it is necessarily 100% unique, but I'm sure you'll be happy with the results. I'm honestly very impressed with the new looks available for armor that I've seen so far.
Tamat - What level range will this expansion be targeted towards?
Blackguard - Achievements will be available to characters level 20 and above, while things like house items, Arena Champions, and the new arenas will be obtainable by all. The content in the Kingdom of Sky's Overrealm is intended for powerful heroes between levels 55 and 70.
Tamat - How does this expansion compare to Desert of Flames in terms of overall content? Would you say there is more content in KoS?
Blackguard - It's different. For the most part, it is more focused directly toward adventuring and questing. The overall size of Kingdom of Sky in terms of play space is even larger than that in Desert of Flames. Additionally, most of the content in Kingdom of Sky is shifted more toward the high end of the spectrum, so you may not see terribly many creatures in the 55-60 range. More challenging adventures await in the Overrealm as your character becomes more powerful.
We've also included some content that you haven't seen a whole lot of. For example, there will be some cool Group x2 raid zones and very large instanced zones with unique layouts on par with Nektropos Castle and Drafling Tower in terms of overall size.
So the answer is that the content is different, but different isn't always a bad thing. ;)
Tamat - Thanks again Ryan!! I know our readers will love to see what you have to say about Kingdom of Sky.
Blackguard - You're welcome! I know I will love to see what your readers have to say about Kingdom of Sky. :)
