24th August 2004 - NC Interactive's Kyzah

Today I have the pleasure of talking directly with Kyzah, the Community
Coordinator for Lineage 1 in the US.
She's made a special promise not to set fire to my office or cast Turn
Undead on my mother-in-law.

Rooella	Hi there Kyzah! How are you doing today?
Kyzah	Fine, thanks for asking; and you? :)
Rooella	Yeah! I'm doin' great thanks! :) I have a whole heap of questions to ask you... So we'll start with the nice ones and i'll turn mean later... :D How long have you been working on Lineage with NC now?
Kyzah	Just over 2 ½ years.
Rooella	Wow you must really love your job huh? *avoids incoming slap* Can you give us a hint of what and average day in the office is like for you?
Kyzah	I don't know that I've had an average day since I started here... Generally, a standard week for me will typically include any and all of the following: forum moderation and discussion, often including multiple conversations and related discussions with Development, QA, Support and Network Operations; various forum-related administrative duties; assisting/Consulting with other departments and products; various meetings and discussions relating to L1 and other products; news announcements and web/internal documentation; various ongoing contests, such as the Screenshots, Player Stories, and Fan Art, as well as special contests, such as the Boss Monster Design Contest; various fansite-related tasks, including review of submitted new and existing sites and browsing various "Linblogs"; L1 Comic editing/revision; assisting in troubleshooting any issues/emergencies that might arise; various game and community-related brainstorming discussions and meetings; various game and community-related reports. Until next week that is, then who knows!? ;)
Rooella	So you've been present for a significant number of major changes? How many episode changes have you been involved with so far?
Kyzah	Five; I joined NCsoft just prior to Episode 10 (pre-Dark Conquest).
Rooella	Wow that's a lot! More than i've seen in-fact! hehe. It must be pretty crazy there during a publish... What was it like back there during the roll-out of Episode 2?
Kyzah	Fairly hectic and involved; we've had many, many long days and weeks of testing, documentation, troubleshooting, and legwork, some of which is still ongoing; however, we're pleased to be able to finally release the much-anticipated new content and hope everyone is enjoying themselves.
Rooella	Yeah... Episode 2 was a a huge update... It certainly looks more than Dark Conquest did! Not only did we get new monsters and hunting areas, you guys turned it right around and knocked out a spanking new User Interface - I actually found it hard to get used to the new pet controls and monster spawns but I am a bit of a blonde when it comes to change! hehe Speaking of changes and Epsiode 2 tho... We did get a sneaky little update no-one was excepcting. It's what we've all come to know as the "Auto-Loot" system. It upset a large number of people! We're all looking forward to receiving the 'fix' from Korea. What are your thoughts on this change?
Kyzah	I definitely understand and empathize with your frustrations over this change, and I'm very appreciative of the Korean Dev Team's willingness to respond to our community's concerns by agreeing to provide us with a localized server flag to re-enable this system on our servers.
Rooella	It's good to hear that even the folk in Korea care about our wierd ways! :) Unfortunatley this wasn't the only set-back we had when Episode 2 went live. A number of "Known Issues" were published, such as the hyperlinked text abnormality, flickering chat window, missing windows and various mac bugs. Which of these is your biggest concern?
Kyzah	The alignment issue with hyperlinked text, since the affected interfaces are an integral part of typical gameplay; I believe we're close to having a resolution on this issue and look forward to seeing it resolved.
Rooella	Yeah - it makes me scared to use the teleporters!!! So I guess you're looking forward to Episode 3?
Kyzah	To be honest, I haven't really thought about the next episode as I'm still very much in the put-Episode-2-to-bed mind-frame; I'll be interested to see what they come up with next, though! :)
Rooella	I have to say... I'm starting to get nervous of game updates. They tend to change so much of the game... which is good! It keeps the game fresh... but it happens overnight, you log in and it's like "wooah... did I load up the wrong game?" Can you provide our readers with any details on currently "Considered" changes to Lineage for Episode 3?
Kyzah	Sure, but then I'd have to kill you! ;) I actually haven't received any details regarding the next episode; this is a better question for Capt, but good luck getting anything out of him! ;)
Rooella	I have beer... he can be bribed! ;) Hmmm... I was reading your Q&A on the official Lineage website a few weeks back... You were asked what your favourite US server was- but you wouldn't give... Are you ready to let the world know this yet?
Kyzah	I'd honestly prefer not to say on which server(s) I predominately play, so as not to add further fuel to the "Server Wars" fires we see in the forums and elsewhere.
Rooella	Awwwe... Go on...
Kyzah	Sorry, no. :) But I will say that I've generally enjoyed the time I've spent on all of the servers and appreciate each of their unique flavors and populations.
Rooella	Hmmz... What about your favourite character class?
Kyzah	Again, I'd prefer not to say; substitute in "Class" for "Server" above. However, I've tried them all, leveled one to 50, and as to which I choose when I play, it really depends on what sort of play style I'm in the mood for, including whether I'm soloing or group-hunting.
Rooella	Wow... do you ever get any work done? *grins* It has been speculated by the community in recent months that NC Austin are trying to urge customers to move to the Lands of Aden server. Do you have something to say to the devoted players of Depairdu and Ken Rauhel?
Kyzah	You're not forgotten or forsaken, as many tend to believe. I believe the mistaken assumption here might be that we simply don't care about those servers as LoA is "our baby" and we've "got something to prove" as far as Seoul is concerned, which is simply not true. If we seem to be encouraging of players to move the LoA server, it's because we actually have the ability to tailor that server to our community's wishes.
Rooella	I still think a non-PVP LoA rule-set would be sweet... *hint hint* If you were able to make 1 change to Lineage of your own choice, what would it be?
Kyzah	Ack! Only one?! I'd like to see additional quests added, both ongoing, such as Lyra and the Orc Totems, and one-offs like the level/class specific quests.
Rooella	Why is that?
Kyzah	Simply to provide more options, more involvement, and something different to do on an ongoing basis.
Rooella	I ask such dumb questions lol. Where do you think the future lies for Lineage 1?
Kyzah	Pork Bellies! Owait, that's Trading Places... ;)
Rooella	*dials the local loony-bin*
Kyzah	I foresee it only getting bigger and better over time, both globally from our team members in Seoul and locally with our development on the Lands of Aden server; it's hard to tell exactly where it'll go, but I look forward to being a part of it. :)
Rooella	Well... It certainly looks like you've been very working hard over the past 2 1/2 years, so I thank you greatly for taking the time out of your hectic schedule to talk with me today. Lineage has seen many changes over the years... it's pleasing to see it still has a bright future ahead! Before I let you go, there's somthing that's been on my mind for some time...
Kyzah	Oh dear, I do hope it's not one of those face-huggers from Alien; I've heard those are pretty nasty...
Rooella	What *did* happen to Lena, Core, Scortch and Visigoth?
Kyzah	Well, only Rock can say for certain, but I have my suspicions; I haven't noticed any new Soylent Snax in the breakroom, though...
Rooella	*laughs* Well thanks again Kyzah... It's been a pleasure! I hope to speak to you again soon!
Kyzah	Likewise, Roo; I appreciate the opportunity. :)

26th August 2004 - ElvanEscense & BlueBerries

Ken's recently married and much loved EE & BB aka ElvanEscence and BlueBerries (ken's physics master o.o;) agreed to be interviewed (returning favour^~*)

Appleseede's fellow fruit has been playing since he was a freshmen in high school, making it a good 4 years, in which he has had a multiple number of characters (lost count)

and belonged to a number of various pledges (lost count also o.o). He finally settled with the mage,

Leveling it to an impressive 55 and belongs to BeyondThePale with the lovely ElvanEscence (lvl 52)~ EE having been playing for about 1.5yrs has always been an elf (full dex)
Blueberries had slightly strange base stats for a mage: 17 con, 17 int, 18 wis. So this means he has pretty good hit points, but he didn't start with full int so he'll need to get to level 58 before he has maximum points! He's currently residing at level 55/56 since his mana points are so bad for his level that he's delevelling & levelling again in an effort to try and get them back to normal.

Both BB & EE have tried the other servers, but as BB put it "I played on DEP when i first started for about 30 seconds; i walked out in town and i saw a pk fest so i said; screw this server o.o".
Go BB ~ As for LOA? "I despise it" ElvanEscence had tried LOA for about 3 months but found that they had it too easy; all her friends being on Ken, she moved.

Both hail from the USA, and have tried other mmorpg's such as FinalFantasy and Ragnarok. As far as Lineage II goes? ElvanEscence "I did almsot quit and go to Lin2 tho, there's no temptation to go there now"

Apart from meeting eachother, BB & EE's most memorable moments were hard to list in one night; best drops/items owned then? ..."when EE landed into my life v.v... and a diamond ring.." For EE, not diamond, but BB v

Eventually we did find out that BB's prized item is a +7 som (no clues to who made it ^~") ElvanEscence's ALA is the most prized item she has, as the a-scroll which made it was given to her by the closest friends she has on Ken (other than her prized BB) C2 & Tarsmi. Dark Elder Sandals and charms are what they both would like to have at some point in the future.

The future? Their goal is now to enjoy the game and the people; EE & BB will be leveling their cats and hunting with friends~ and once the great destroy spell has been gotten?..

Many thanks and much love are to be given including "CainnaTwo, Tarsmi and Ying, other than BB v -and my daughter massadurah" ~ "Fyreblade, Lordnemesis, Ophelia, Aristegui, Bobstoops, Sfxs, Herokirby..Ooelfoo...ie.the whole of the BeyondThePale bp"
BlueBerries and ElvanEscence are two people which Ken are lucky to have. Not only are they fun and fantastic people, they are good hearted, kind and talented; Goes to show that the game is no fun without the kind of people in it ~ We wish them both all the best of luck and success in the future, both in real life and in the game ^^**

~ Appleseede & Elvorith

As the sun goes down - exclusive interview with NCsoft's Jesse Scoble

Once again we have to say good-bye to a member of the Lineage 1 Austin team. Sadly, Artic Sun is leaving us and heading back up north; As the sun sets over the hills of Texas for the last time for our content writer & editor, we speak to him about his time at NCsoft.

[Read on] for the full story...

Rooella	Well... How was it?
Arctic Sun	It? Texas, it? Austin, it? City of Heroes, it? James McMurtry, it? The Exteel beta, it? The new episode of Heroes, it? Oh, you mean Lineage, don’t you? Actually, the whole experience – heading down from snowy Canada to hot-hot-hot Texas, and joining the NCsoft family, and being apart of so many great games – especially Lineage – was a tremendous experience. I’ve learned a great deal, and hope I helped out where and when I could.
Rooella	Yeh, it's a pretty crazy crowd back there! What did you find most challenging?
Arctic Sun	Two things – one was being part of so large a company (previously, the company I worked for topped out at about 7 people). And the Community. All communities have their challenges, of course, and I had to learn to dance quickly with each one. I would say the Lineage folks are the hardest to please, but that’s OK because they are hardcore gamers, and when you do something right by them, it feels really good. And when you fail them, they let you know fast :) But if you’re honest and hard working, they’ll give you another chance.
Rooella	The guys can be total goofs... It must have been fun! What good things are you going to take away with you?
Arctic Sun	Fracas’s music, Nomad’s books (books, not boots, dammit), Mistryl’s kindness, and Impact’s patience, and Roo’s chocolate… A really good working experience, and some great friends, both in game and out of game.
Rooella	Funny... Roo thought Fracas ate all the chocolate... So tell us, is he just as nuts in person?
Arctic Sun	Fracas? Honestly, no. He’s far worse. Like a fruit bat.
Rooella	What about Mistryl? She as hot as they say?
Arctic Sun	Hah. Mistryl was the second person I met at NCsoft, after Tsirin, and she has been wonderful to work with. She’s quiet, although Nomad claimed Mistryl would curse like a sailor on occasion, but she’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. And she’s a cutie, all right.
Rooella	Of all the staff who've come and gone over the years, who did/will you miss the most?
Arctic Sun	This is a tricky question, as I was in Austin for only about a year and a half, and spent most of my time on City of Heroes. So if I say I really miss working with Awry, you’ll probably have no idea what I’m talking about. I think as far as L1 is concerned (and I know it’s all you care about! :) ), CaptSturm’s departure is the biggest void. But I think he did a great job mentoring Fracas, and I think Fracas’s return to L1 will be even more passionate and inspired this time around. But the person I’ll miss most by leaving Austin will be CuppaJo, the former CoH (and now on TR) Community Manager. Definitely one of my best friends in Austin.
Rooella	Yeh... Roo's heard good things 'bout CuppaJo... but Roo would much rather have a CuppaTea o.o Milk, two sugars ty v.v What advice would you offer to your successors... other than to run away?
Arctic Sun	I think you need to be honest with the players, and develop a level of trust with them. You have to be able to take criticism without flipping out, but you also need to stand your ground when they are asking too much of you. And play the game. Play the game. Play the game.
Rooella	Well, I know you played when you got the chance, how did you find it?
Arctic Sun	I did. Never as much as I wanted, but y’know, I was on Lineage, Exteel, Dungeon Runners, and City of Heroes. That’s a lot of ground to cover.
Rooella	Yep, all those "Busy!" IM's qq You were possibly, the worst Knight I ever met when ya started tho... That said, I didn't make a very good heal-mage either. Running away from mops on talking island was too funny o.o You played other classes too, right?
Arctic Sun	Well, I started with a Dark Elf, but didn’t get very far. I then switched to a Knight and played that whenever I could. Oh, and I also had a GM character with the form of a Mambo Rabbit – that bunny was *great!*
Rooella	hehe - yeh bunny rocked... He could squish GMFracas with his bare feet o.o If you could single-handedly change something about Lineage, what would it be?
Arctic Sun	Well, two things – I would magically make the bots disappear, because, well, that would be the thing that so many players want most of all. But unfortunately that’s magic, and bots are a daily fight. The second would be that I would make the level grind less cumbersome. I know that as a GM I can magically make myself whatever level I want, but I don’t think games need to be work, and sometimes that level grind sure feels like work. I also know that some people really like that, and without it it wouldn’t be Lineage … just personal preference, y’know?
Rooella	Yep. While yer at it, get me to 55 plz ty :P I actually hate the whole levelling thing... for me the game's all about the folks in it... and we have a great laugh. That said, I know it's why folks get sooo mad about the bot problem. We spend years making our characters, only for those bozo's to cheat their way up >.< makes Roo mad!
Arctic Sun	Yep, bots are evil.
Rooella	Well, it's almost time to say goodbye!
Arctic Sun	Man, I thought you talked a lot, but apparently it’s all me.
Rooella	Heh. Well buddy, thanks for all of your hard work over the past year-and-a-bit, and for stopping by to talk with us!
Arctic Sun	Thanks to all the people who helped me on the Lineage project, very much including Kyzah, Scout, Sylvia, and Mary. And thanks a ton to you, Roo, for all the time you’ve invested in L1 and the community. And a final big thanks to all the players out there – first and foremost, we do this work for you guys.
Rooella	Yeh, those folks rocked! Thanks again man & goodluck with the future!

Behind The Scenes: Mambo Equinox

We are proud to bring to our readers, an exclusive behind-the scenes look at how this years "Mambo Equinox" spring event was made possible.

Nomad, Fracas, Impact and Arctic Sun took some time out of their busy schedule to stop by and talk to us.

Read on for the full article...

Rooella:	Thanks for taking the time out of your schedules to come and talk to us (looks behind... now where DID i put Elvo and Szeto?) today we know you're all pretty busy filing your nails, or doing whatever it is you NC folk do in preperation for E3... You've come to enlighten our readers and give us a useful insight of what goes on behind the scenes of Lineage: Dark Conquest You know you're going to run an event... given the time of year we can safely assume that bunny rabbits and other general springy-things are in order. How do you decide what do to?
Fracas:	Well, as with any event, whether bunny related or not, the first question is always "what's in the toolbox?"
Rooella:	Uhhh.. ok, the first dumb question of the day... What exactly is "the toolbox" ?
Fracas:	it's basically what you have to work with.
Rooella:	Now i'm getting visions of that MacGyver dude building tanks out of rubber bands and 1/2 filled gas cans...
Fracas:	Well, we knew we had Rabbits and eggs... So knowing that those resources were appropriate and available to us, it was a matter of deciding what to do with them... We could literally hide the eggs, but with cows, pigs and slimes everywhere, that might not work... unless we put them in a chest of sorts, i guess, but what kind of Bunny runs around putting eggs in boxes and then hiding boxes? It's not economical.
Rooella:	Well, she would have to either buy, or build the chests... and we all know the giran wood-chopping NPC is broken...
Fracas:	lol For this event, Impact came up with the idea of allowing people to become a rabbit, specifically the Mambo Rabbit.
Rooella:	Great! So we have a fun morph?
Fracas:	Yep... which would only be fun for a few seconds... so we need more!!!
Rooella:	What made you put the morph on an amulet as opposed to using the already existing bunny-morph?
Fracas:	Well, like you said, the bunny morph already exists and it's not the big funky Mambo Rabbit... by putting the morph on an amulet we could make a reward out of it... but a reward needs a task. With the egg-gathering thing, it's just so screamingly fitting.
Rooella:	I guess it wouldn't be the "Mambo Equinox" without the big bunny! Ok so we have the bunny morph and we want to hide eggs... but the wood-chopper ain't making the special chests for us... what do you do?
Fracas:	Thinking back to the Halloween Event, there was a lot of feedback on the front of "random" and "having event stuff everywhere".
Rooella:	By that you mean not limiting the event to a specific area?
Fracas:	Exactly... Even if we did do the "hide eggs in a box" thing, it didn't sit random enough with me to go for it. I wanted this event to be EVERYWHERE.
Rooella:	So the natural progression from that would be walking chickens to lay the eggs... and oddly, we have those in-game!
Fracas:	Yeah! But they don't lay eggs constantly... which sounded easy enough to make happen.
Rooella:	usually they just cross roads and confuse philosophers and stuff.
Fracas:	It's amazing how many times you think of something that seems easy to do, only to find out that it's amazingly difficult or not at all possible. So I'm on our internal QA server summoning chickens like crazy... and none of them are laying eggs.
Rooella:	LOL... ya gotta feed 'em dude!
Fracas:	Giran square was literally COVERED in chickens.
Rooella:	What? as opposed to cows? :s
Fracas:	I didn't want to feed them! They were set-up to thrive without food... but it wasn't working.
Rooella:	Ooh... self-sustaining chickens. You could be rich with that idea you know?
Fracas:	It was back to the drawing board...
Rooella:	Ultimately you solved the problem...?
Fracas:	We were actually on a different track, trying to justify the horrific slaughter of birds, when i stumbled upon the solution to make them lay the eggs.
Rooella:	O.o
Fracas:	Some text files had changed... we worked it out based on the fact that chickens weren't laying eggs on their own and then bam! it was working after all. By this point Giran was covered in chickens and eggs.
Rooella:	We're back to the philosophers again huh? Ok... so where on earth did the foxes come from?
Fracas:	We had hens and ducks everywhere, they were laying eggs, and people could turn into the Mambo Rabbit. I was liking where this was going. In addition, we were able to incorporate the egg-raising event, which was a small spin-off an event held in Korea a few months back. There is a good chunk of content here, and from our observations it was looking pretty fun... BUT... there was nothing to smash.
Rooella:	yeah! we gotta smack stuff!
Fracas:	Totally. A peaceful event would probably end up in a violent revolt. Is that irony?
Rooella:	and because foxes eat chickens...
Fracas:	We had already decided that the chickens would be "lost"... and with "lost" comes "danger". This seems like a heck of a situation for any kind of predator and we've got foxes in the toolbox.
Rooella:	hehe. From the sneaky-fox event no-doubt?
Fracas:	That's where the inspiration came from yeah. So to back up a bit, we like to hit a few things when designing an event. 1. Something different... obviously. 2. Loot! We all love loot... foxes were dropping good items, plus there was some good stuff in the eggs that players could hatch. 3. Smash. We GOTTA have stuff to smash.
Rooella:	I have to say, I was shocked at just how many scrolls were dropping. Was there a reason for this particular selection of loot?
Fracas:	Scrolls had a few things going for them. They're consumable... Nobody throws away an enchant scroll - they can always be used, "burnt up", "applied", however you want to look at it.
Rooella:	Burnt up... at least when it comes to my items :s Great stuff... now we know how you came up wit the theme... how on earth do you incorporate that into the existing story-line?
Arctic Sun:	Heh. Great Question!
Rooella:	Ahh... you're still awake over there then Arctic?
Arctic Sun:	So.. to prepare I read through all the past fiction that everyone else had come up in fleshing out some of the history of Aden.
Rooella:	You go delving through the archives? :)
Arctic Sun:	I wanted the Mambo Rabbit and Pirate island to be a central point in the legend/build up, but not *the* central point because neither was key to the event, and we didn't want to confuse the players. I knew from the event documents that there would be lost hens and lost ducks, various new NPCs with specific functions, and of course the hungry foxes. From that, I worked up a rough story that would tie those things together. In doing so, I was able to help Fracas change a little of the in-game dialogue to synch up, and helped name the various "levels" of Eggs.
Rooella:	Hmmm... I'm starting to feel sorry for them now >.<
Arctic Sun:	For who?
Rooella:	The poor little hungry foxes :s
Fracas:	SMASH THEM!
Arctic Sun:	Hah.
Rooella:	aaaaaaaanyway...
Arctic Sun:	I then circulated my sketch ideas to the team (including Scout and Mistryl)... got their feedback and redrafted the tale of the poor Spring Festival Captain. We also have a Creative Services Department who deal with the fine artwork.
Rooella:	Drawing the bunnies?
Arctic Sun:	Yes - on the banner :)
Rooella:	Yeah... he a fat bunny too! I had one like him once.
Fracas:	I love that banner. That rabbit's facial expression is just too funny.
Rooella:	That's the event proceedings organised, a back-story and some pretty artwork. What happens next?
Fracas:	Next I update my documentation... being that what we originally wanted is never the same as what we end up with.
Rooella:	Can you give us an example...?
Fracas:	Well, we originally wanted it to be the rabbit himself in the town giving the quest.
Rooella:	Oh! As the NPC?
Fracas:	Yeah, we couldn't do that due to technical limitations.
Rooella:	Really? Wow, that's interesting.
Fracas:	I also wanted to create an assortment of Easter Baskets, but that was also limited for various reasons.
Rooella:	Now... we've gone through the toolbox, and you've broke the internal QA server with all of your chickens and eggs...
Fracas:	The next documentation is the uber detailed line by line changelog that represents "lineage before event" and "lineage after event"... this goes to Impact. I take one last look at my stuff to ensure it's working well enough to start QA testing, I update the internal test servers, and give Impact the go ahead... He has to think of all of the things I didn't...
Rooella:	You mean like cows eating the eggs? :P
Impact:	Right. Then QA goes through and figures out how the actual functionality of the event matches up with the documentation.
Rooella:	Is this usually the case, or is Fracas's coding that wobbly? ;-)
Fracas:	Hey! >.<
Arctic Sun:	heh... it's just good game design. The way a writer *always* needs an editor... A dev *always* needs QA.
Impact:	More eyes are always good. The designer of the content will naturally have a blind spot for errors in it.
Fracas:	I originally had the the Spring Captain asking for help finding his "Foul Friends".
Rooella:	Yeah... it's like an army of dirty farm animals O.o
Arctic Sun:	We like to think our fowl are clean.
Impact:	Minor text errors always crop up, sometimes the way an NPC reacts to player interaction doesn't work the way it's meant to...
Fracas:	I also had the turn in numbers mixed up so the actual number of required eggs didn't match what he was asking for... and with the way I had the lost birds setup it was actually more rewarding to kill them than to wait for them to lay an egg.
Rooella:	Like if you killed the hen you'd get exp and a drop? Yeah - i see...
Fracas:	Yeah - we had to add a law penalty and decrease the amount of eggs they were carrying.
Rooella:	It would have been uber cool if they had the teleport effect when they came and left!!!
Fracas:	Magic Chickens? Cool!
Rooella:	Just how far in advance does all of this work have to start?
Fracas:	It depends on the complexity and how much i've learned. Halloween took about 3 full weeks, this event took about 5 full days. After day 5 though, there's about another 3-5 of bug-fixing and re-testing the fixes... that is after QA has started blasting it apart with their keen breaking skillz.
Rooella:	I guess that explains the problems we've encountered working on the upcoming mayday event...?
Nomad:	Exactly... we need at *least* a week to test or Impact gets cranky...
Rooella:	Understandably so!
Fracas:	The last bug-fixes and re-testing of them was going on yesterday.
Rooella:	*cough* aaaanway... I don't want to give too much info away about mayday yet - so we'll just stick to the spring event :)
Fracas:	Roger that! :)
Rooella:	Ok, well we've had an idea, created a back-story, put required changes through development and QA testing... that leaves external test... Who publishes the content there?
Fracas:	That would be me.
Rooella:	(You heard it folks - when the test server's down... it's all Fracas's fault!)
Nomad:	heh
Rooella:	When or how do you decide whether to test externally or not?
Nomad:	We always test externally.
Rooella:	Not *always* right... some of the events have run simultaneously... right?
Fracas:	During internal testing... it depends on the event content as to whether or not all the content will appear on external test before it hits live.
Nomad:	*shuts up*
Fracas:	Timer intensive events don't always get their full glory on test because let's say we've set all the timers to kick off a week early so that everything happens on external test... It gets tested, and works - however those aren't the same timers that we're gonna use on live because they're a week early.
Impact:	Yeah, it's this kind of thing that gives me headaches. Even when it's been tested backwards and forwards, it has to change for live servers.
Rooella:	Tell me about it... my brain's hurting just thinking about it. So the timers in this event were for the intervals, right?
Fracas:	Yeah, so we had to make sure we tested the heck out of them both internally and externally! (not that we normally don't test the heck out of things, but in this case we were exceptionally obsessive about it.)
Rooella:	Changing the subject slightly... where the heck did this Vigor stuff come from???
Fracas:	It was part of the event when it occured in Korea.
Rooella:	Ahh I see... already in the toolbox? and we thought you loved us *sniffs*
Fracas:	I take no credit for that set... although I really want it.
Rooella:	Yeah but it's uber expensive... you'll have to save up :P So it's deployment time...
Nomad:	Which means the players start on it - and this is where I come in!
Rooella:	Awwe - they make you work? That's just wrong.
Nomad:	I compile a daily report from the message boards and send it to Fracas and send him any urgent items throughout the day... oh and calm him down when he reaches for his shotgun! When players find something that needs to be fixed, the dev-internal-external process starts over again. For this event, we re-published twice I think... with changes that were specifically due to player feedback.
Rooella:	Bug fixes and stuff?
Nomad:	They're not always bugs - the loot drops weren't bugged for example - but things that we felt needed to be changed to improve the event.
Fracas:	An example being the abundance of fresh eggs vs. the one reward - originally they were just a tasty snack.
Rooella:	So you turned them into candy-type things (with the funky effects... brave etc.)
Fracas:	yeppers. Originally, on external test, you could only turn in fresh eggs for 2 things... the rabbit amulet and an uber nutrition treat... that nobody enjoyed :-\ There were also some areas with waaaaaay too many foxes and others with waaaaay too few. Impact and I spent a lot of time spying on External Test and seeing what needed to be done.
Rooella:	You did all of this in just the 3 days on external test?
Fracas:	Was it only 3 days? it felt like years! :) I drove poor Impact nuts!
Rooella:	Ok... so the event has played out... what happens now...? Clean up? Now everyone's complaining that you've taken their brave eggs away... why can't you just leave them?
Fracas:	Well... every item we create as a special ID assigned to it... well every item, period. So I collect the ID's of the specific event items and submit them to our database team - they create a script and we then perform some test "clean ups" on our internal servers.
Rooella:	But how come you don't always delete the items? for example - I still have some Christmas Pie in storage... What's goin' on there?
Fracas:	When we're able to leave an item in-game it's because it already exists - and isn't a special thing from the toolbox... It's unique ID already exists so it won't get over-written.
Rooella:	I see so things like Christmas Pie, Vigor Belts and Christmas cards are permanent items - that are always present?
Fracas:	Yes - you Christmas Card will always be a Christmas card - the special ID doesn't change. But what happens when Episode 8 comes out and it includes the same ID's scout used to create the holiday pies... and weird people like Roo have kept theirs in the storage dwarf for the past 4 years?
Rooella:	I see - so if you didn't remove the eggs - we might have found that come the next epsiode publish, instead of 20 brave eggs in our inventory, we have 20 uber-rare spellbooks? I can see how that could really mess things up. So you're saying my pie might turn into something one day? O.o I know it's been festering in there for a long time... but...
Fracas:	They log in and find their pie is gone and it's been replaced with a chicken foot... exactly!
Rooella:	My pie might mutate into something else one day? O.o
Fracas:	Nah - your pie will be just fine... although just to be sure i'm going to submit a request to delete everything in your inventory... just to be safe.
Rooella:	O.O I probably wouldn't notice... my character is crippled anyway - i die to stupid things like Ghouls qq
Fracas:	hahaha
Rooella:	Well I have to say this has been fascinating - but i'm afraid we can't possibly take any more of your time. I'd like to thank you all for taking the time to come and talk to us - especially during your lunch hours!!!
Fracas:	Uh-oh... Roo's hungry.
Arctic Sun:	Thanks Roo.
Impact:	*waves*
Fracas:	Thanks!
Nomad:	:)

Exclusive Interview with NCsoft Austin's CaptSturm

This interview with CaptSturm was originally started back in December but it's publish was delayed due to Capt's very busy schedule. I'd like to thank Kyzah, as always, for her efforts with beatin' Capt' up over getting back to us!

As for the rest of the Lineage 1 team back at NC Austin... Watch out folks... Roo's a-gonna get ya! ;-)

Rooella	Hey there! great to catch you... are you looking forward to Januarys HoC?
CaptSturm	Well, getting to this late, I'll say that I always look forward to the change of chatting with the Lineage fans. With our new schedule of HoCs (rotating among the other fine NC products) it seems long overdue. I enjoyed this past one as always.
Rooella	It's been a tough few months for Lineage huh? I'm dying to know tho... what did you think of the player of the year contest we ran?
CaptSturm	I gotta tell you--I have enormous appreciation and respect for the fan site operators. Just the sheer fact that you put all the extra effort into creating the site is incredible, but the contests are way above and beyond. I think its obvious the Lineage players really appreciate the work you all do, but let me state it loudly for the record...YOU ROCK!
Rooella	Umm... *blush* Any suggestions for next years? :)
CaptSturm	Preferably something that involves elephants and snowboards.
Rooella	Elephants? Umm O.o I'll bear that in mind... Okay... i know you're gonna hate me but i just have to ask the question... How have the "Water cooler" talks about bringing us all together on one server been going? Any action there at the moment? There are all kinds of roumers floating about right now... I think we're all very excited and anxious to hear what you have come up with!
CaptSturm	Well, we get together and start scribbling on the white board. We talk about all the collisions, such as character and pet names, we talk about pledge houses and castles and storage concerns. We talk about the mechanics of how a transfer request would work, such as emailing support or building a web page to do that. And who would do it. And does it need art, who does that? And the database hooks, how is that implemented.
Rooella	Oh go on... Throw me a bone here! plureaaaaaaaaaase?
CaptSturm	Well, suffice it to say it wouldn't be a piece of cake even if it was decided that we actually wanted to do it. It would be a significant change in operational philosophy that I couldn't make on my own. The main thing is that we be careful not to get ahead of ourselves. We'll consider everything that could make the service better, but we can't ignore the daily tasks of running the service either.
Rooella	*notes the hoards NC Lawyers making notes on clipboards* *sniff* sooo not what I was hoping for... A lot of network problems in the last few months... are these now put to bed?
CaptSturm	A lot of those were unrelated and unexpected-as much as I'd like to promise we won't see any further issues, I'm afraid that'll be a concern with any internet game for the near future. Currently, many ISPs are doing network maintenance that is completely out of our domain and control. However, I think that the network situation will show improvement outside of these anomalies.
Rooella	Well that has to be good news! What do you have to say to all of our players who ran off to play *another* game this month? Do you think Lineage will win them back?
CaptSturm	There's no doubt that some fantastic games have been released lately. I also firmly believe that no other game does a better job of providing a "hook" than Lineage. Some may do equally well, but none does it better. I think the vast majority of the Lineage players, and I mean like 98%, are TRUE Lineage fans and have it in their blood. While they may stray, an awful lot will come back.
Rooella	How are the other ventures going? CoH, Lin2 etc? Are they as fun and demanding for you as Lineage has been?
CaptSturm	You know, I can't imagine anything more fun than the times I've had working on Lineage. It was a great opportunity to communicate with the fans and actually implement many great suggestions and drive towards a vision of delivering an environment where players can participate in the process. Lineage 2 is always interesting because it's the sequel and, of course, is incredibly detailed and beautiful. CoH is a great team, the dev guys are incredibly professional and have such a passion about the quality of their work. We also coordinate the PlayNC website publishes, which is less glamorous but crucial to operations. Looking forward, the Auto Assault team is a blast to work with and they're in the process of creating a game that'll "blow your doors off!" (Sorry, bad pun!).
Rooella	What about the eagerly awaited Episode 3? It seems like just yesterday Ep2 went live... Are you still activley involved with this, or is scout now taking care of the bulk of it?
CaptSturm	Aww, you know, it is mainly Scout on this. I poke around to see what's going on and fix things when she breaks them. :^)
Rooella	Yeah... you gotta watch that one... She's trouble i tell ya! What's your Tip for 2005 for our Lineage fans?
CaptSturm	Well, I'd suggest a couple. One, keep providing the great feedback. That stuff gets forwarded on the core dev team in Seoul and is considered for implementation on the LoA server. Second, get a friend to try it. I want to see an increase in numbers over the upcoming year. We'll try and crank out some good events and updates for ya' if you'll do that for me.
Rooella	So what's it like working with Kyzah AND Scout? I mean.. they're pretty nutty galz... how do you stay sane?
CaptSturm	Who say's I'm sane?
Rooella	Ya... we love 'em too! What ya got Roo for Christmas?
CaptSturm	Hmm, we don't do presents at my house. It's all about the true reason for the season. :^) However, how 'bout that event that Scout whipped up? Huh? Yeah, I played a bit myself!
Rooella	Yeah - it was a hoot! Scout gave us pies! mmmmm exceedingly good pie... Well it's time i got on with smackin' those evil mops! Thanks for taking the time out of your day to talk to us... u rule the roost! ;-) geddit? Roo... roost? ooh nvm.

Exclusive: Beating Fracas like a Pinata! Interview with the designated driver.

Well it's gettin' close ta Christmas and everyone's wondering what Satin Claws has in store for us this year. Who better to ask than the "hound at the helm" himself, Mr Fracas.

As a side note to the rest of the Lineage 1 team back at NC Austin... Where's Roo's presents? >.<

[Read on] for the full story...

Rooella	Hey Fracas. Firstly a HUGE welcome back. You were just getting to grips with things when the mighty NCsoft shake-up occured, and CaptSturm came crashing back in on the party... Where did you go? What did you do?.... did ya miss us?
Fracas	Well, it so happened that one of our products under development was wanting to create an internal QA department just as my gig as "Lineage guy" was going away. They needed somebody to lead it so I dived in to do so, and that's what I've been doing ever since. It's a fun job, and it wasn't an easy call to leave, but the truth is that I DID miss Lineage and felt my work on it wasn't done...so here I am! Back! Hooray!
Rooella	Well that sounds pretty cool, but ya'll know that anything that isn't Lineage 1 is evil... How does it feel to be back in the saddle?
Fracas	You know, it feels pretty good. Although weird at first, I feel the rust shaking off and have had my fair share of "OOH YEAH I REMEMBER THAT!" moments, which are always fun.
Rooella	We were all pretty bummed-out when you told us we wouldn't see Episode 5 or a Holiday event this year... but apparently you told us a whacking great lie! What's the deal with that man?
Fracas	Haha did I lie? I did not! I remember saying I was determined to give y'all an event and BAM, here she comes. Well, assuming it doesn't burn to the ground and die on the test server over the weekend. If I DID lie it's only because I am horrifically mean.
Rooella	Okay then, we'll let you off... maybe... but what's the deal with Episode 5? What special treats can we expect for the unique US ruleset?
Fracas	I could make up stuff but I'm not going to. Truth is I need to get it propped up on its feet and running and then spend time learning it. Once I know it, I can tweak it. I'll do my best to keep y'all updated on this progress.
Rooella	Speaking of the special stuff... Just before you were shoved into the land of QA you had created some rather unique (and frackin' awesome if I do say so myself) content for us... The Trial of Doom. Can we expect more things like this in the future?
Fracas	Hah, I hope so. The Trial of Doom was A LOT of fun to implement, I really felt like I was doing something different. I was nervous about how it'd go over, but from what I understand, it went over pretty well? Maybe? If nothing else it gave me a chance to dig up and dabble in every single Lineage tool we have, which is fun for me, so yes, I fully intend on trying to produce more content like that in the future.
Rooella	Aaanyway, we've kinda gone of the point a bit here... Christmas... Will there be pie?
Fracas	Yes. Lots of it.
Rooella	Woo! What ya got Roo for Christmas? huh? huh? :D
Fracas	Hahahah NOTHING. Well...yeah, ok, NOTHING. Hahaha still funny!
Rooella	When's Episode 1 coming? :P
Fracas	NEVER AGAIN!
Rooella	When's Episode 6 coming?
Fracas	I think it'd be funny to get it out before Episode 5. Then again, whenever I think something is funny, it's usually a really bad idea.
Rooella	A little birdie told me that ya'll were working on a grand-scale server consolidation of doom... That still in the pipe?
Fracas	That is something I was working on before I left and it may be something I try to work on again. To be honest though, I'm not sure, quit distracting me from Episode 5!
Rooella	How many roads must a man walk down?
Fracas	Wow this song was going through my head all day! No kidding! A bunch.
Rooella	Well we'd better let Fracas get on, else we'll NEVER see Episode 5.... EVER muhahaha. Thanks for taking the time out of yer busy schedule Mr F, and welcome back. You ROCK!
Fracas	*runs*
Rooella	Before ya go... can we keep Mistryl? Fracas? Hellooooo?

Exclusive: Belated goodbyes to a good ole' gal!

This interview with NCsoft's Mistryl (Former Community Co-ordinator for Lineage I US and, may I say, one very hot babe!) was originally conducted in January this year. I would like to take this opportunity to DEEPLY apologise to her for the delay in publishing it. Mistryl was community co-ordinator from Jan 2005 until Feb 2006 and did a fantastic job.

So, just to make her feel better... I'll pretend to be the dark elf in this picture ^^

Read on for the full article...

Rooella	Hello Mistryl and thank you for talking with us today! It's certainly been an action-packed year huh?  What was the most challenging experience you had as the Lineage 1 community co-ordinator?
Mistryl	It's been a fantastic year! I would say the most challenging time would be any time the community had an unexpected reaction to an event or publish that I had high hopes for. It's really tough to see players disappointed, and I always tried my best to ease concerns and make sure the feedback made it to the team.
Rooella	Yes... there have been a few outcrys! Still everything works out in the end ^^ Have you enjoyed your time in this role?
Mistryl	I have definitely enjoyed my time working with the Lineage community and fan sites! Lineage players are the most dedicated, knowledgeable, and passionate players I have ever seen. And they seem to have a special fondness for pie. The Lineage team has also made working on the game a blast. Scout and Fracas always keep me on my toes, and Kyzah knows the game and community inside and out. Both the team and the players have taught me a lot about how to best support a community.
Rooella	Pies? Did someone say pies? *drools* What about your best moment? What has really stood out?
Mistryl	My brief possession of Antharas stands out as one of my favorite memories! (Antharas appeared as "Mistryl" for a short time on the Test Server.) I was sad when Scout exorcised me and Antharas returned to his old self. :) I also always enjoyed peeking over Scout's shoulder during a pre-wipe event on the Test Server. Not only would she take player requests for monsters, she humored me when I started shouting, "Baranka! Baranka!"
Rooella	Ahhh... so that was YOUR fault eh? ^^ Are you going to keep playing Lineage whilst you work on Lin2?
Mistryl	I will keep playing Lineage. I can't wait to see what Fracas has up his sleeve for the next event!
Rooella	It really has been wonderful working with you, we're gonna miss ya, but before we let you go we have one question... When will Episode 5 go live?
Mistryl	*runs away screaming*
Rooella	It's been an absolute pleasure, we couldn't have done it without you. I've said it before, you ROCK. I know I will definitely miss you... *sniffs*
Mistryl	I would like to give a huge thank you to our official fan sites LineageOne and LineageDB! You guys have done a phenomenal job for the Lineage community and it is appreciated!

Exclusive: Interview With A Vampire

With Episode 4, History & Memory almost ready to splash onto the US Live servers, we tracked down one of Ncsofts most fearsome employees: Scout AKA “Vampire”.
The following interview was conducted mostly via e-mail. We were however lucky enough to have the opportunity to meet Lineage US’s most infamous publishing co-ordinator face-to-face on the US test server shortly after the episode 4 content was made available for a brief tour.

Read on for the full story...

<Rooella> Just how large is the episode 4 content delivery from Korea and how long does it take to get the initial build installed on to Internal test?
<GMScout> I’d estimate that there are approximately 15,000 new and/or changed files, including both server and client files. As far as the download size, we’re not sure just yet how large that’s going to be, but it will obviously be significant.

<Rooella> How often do these content deliveries tend to occur?
<GMScout> The target schedule is to release an episode approximately every 4 months.

<Rooella> Wow... that's more than I thought, but what about the odd updates we get here and there?
<GMScout> Typically, Korea publishes something every week, whether it’s new content or simply modifications. Our goal is to do the same. However, sometimes circumstances prohibit us from being able to publish weekly and we’re forced to lump a number of weeks into one publish. So the US publish schedule is a little more erratic that Korea, but it all gets published eventually.

<Rooella> So… I am told our meeting place was your choice. Why here?
<GMScout> Well yea kind of. I love Pirates, and this is a really cool place.
After some ranting about teddy-bear envy, and bumping into a really cool NPC (shown below) we proceeded to the Pirate Island dungeons.



<GMScout> That’s for you! Well… maybe not but it sounds good?
<Rooella> I’ll just pretend it’s true, ok?

So off we went to the dungeons. (as you do).



<GMScout> Welcome to Pirate Island dungeon floor 1.



<Rooella> Wow! This is different! What level is that fella?
<GMScout> Around 30 I believe. I haven’t memorized it all just yet.
<Rooella> Have you found many folks come here yet?
<GMScout> Well, this does seem to be one of the more popular Ep4 maps.



<GMScout> It’s a bit hard to do a side by side comparison since their purposes are a bit different. This dungeons should be interesting anyway – and should be worth the time.
<GMScout> Let’s see if we can find Drake, the quest dude.
<Rooella> Sure!



<GMScout> Uh… sorry ☺
<Rooella> no problem! (yes – I died. Lol )
<GMScout> So, this is one of the places he’s likely to be. Finishing the quest gives you “Key of Drake”. You’ll have to find out what that’s for!



<GMScout> Welcome to the Sanctuary Of Evil.
<Rooella> Otherwise known as the Temple of Demons? How do you decide on the translated names? Is that you, or someone else?
<GMScout> We try to keep them as close to the Korean meanings as possible. If not, we pick something as close as we can.



<GMScout> Welcome to the Ancient Giant Ruins… moving swiftly on to the Great Cavern.



<Rooella> This feels very in-line with the Lastabad Dungeons!
<GMScout> This is the “Resist” Alchemist.
<Rooella> There are different kinds?
<GMScout> There’s the “Recluse” Alchemist on the Recluse side of the cavern…



<Rooella> I can see a lot of thought has gone in here… There are a lot of significant game-style changes!
<GMScout> Yes, there are some things that will most likely change the way the game is played, but it should be interesting.



<Rooella> Are you pleased with the Episode 4 content?
<GMScout> Oh definitley. I’m very excited and plain disappointed that my character isn’t high enough level!

At this point we discussed my “charisma”. After much ridicule we proceeded the Elemental Grave. (Yep. Episode 4 is kinda big…)



<Rooella> This must have been a huge content delivery?!
<GMScout> Yea, it’s one of the larger episodes we’ve had… Looking forward, they’re getting better each time.
<Rooella> How are the testers responding to the changes?
<GMScout> So far, it’s been very positive – which is great because we think this is a good episode.
<Rooella> You should be proud of it… I’m just… blown away by it all!



<GMScout> Welcome to Abyss Lake!
<Rooella> WOW… This is MUCH better than the old heine 4f look… did they upadte heine to match too?
<GMScout> Yeah, I believe so… I thought you might like it!
<Rooella> *stunned*
<GMScout> We think the players will like this a bit better.



<Rooella> Hmm… all non-aggro?
<GMScout> Yeah, but be prepared once you attack!
<Rooella> Tribal huh? What sort of level are they?
<GMScout> It ranges from 30 to 45 depending on the area… So far the Koreans find this a very favourable location.
<Rooella> So again… comparable to FV… another alternative? It looks great!
<GMScout> Yes, it is nice. Hopefully players will find reason to come underwater again!
<Rooella> !Buying Underwater boots – wis me! Hehe
<GMScout> Exactly!

Following more jokes about my charisma, we decided to head back to Pirate Island to find a racoon.



Scout was unable to tame the little fella (I guess she’s just not charming enough) so we cheated our way to a High Raccoon…



Being a High Raccoon – I did’t want to aggro it because I’m pretty sure it would hurt.

We took a look at some of the new “cute” mops being introduced.





Unfortunatley this fella is not tameable ☹ he packs a nice punch tho!

Below you can see the new “Kiwi Parrot” – again, not tameable… it doesn’t seem to fly either… It reminded me of the dodo.



With the new content now out of the way, I’d like to concentrate on Scout herself. She has been with us for 2 years now, and in that time we have seen a few amazing events – and some interesting inginuity.
<Rooella> How much work does it take to organise a special event, such as the recent "Illusionists" event, in terms of coding and testing - right through to live publish and clear-up?
<GMScout> It really depends on the complexity of the event. The Illusion event was relatively simple as all the Illusion items were already there so all we added was the treasure chests. The process of coding, testing, and adjusting took about a week. Larger events, such as the Halloween event, can take up to a month. Those are more difficult because we create custom mops, NPCs, items, behaviors, etc. which require a significant amount of coding and testing.

<Rooella> What has, for you been the biggest challenge you've faced during your time here?
<GMScout> Probably doing LoA specific changes. Although that has always been, and should be, secondary to processing content and resolving issues it’s also a very important aspect. Finding the time to implement LoA content is often an issue.

<Rooella> We haven't had many different content publishers over the years. How do you feel you've coped with the responsibility, and how would you compare your efforts to those of your predecessor?
<GMScout> Well, I had some mighty big shoes to fill. Players have a lot of respect for CaptSturm, and that’s well deserved. He did an amazing job and I don’t think anyone can even come close to what he’s done for Lineage. But I feel pretty good about my time on Lineage. I’ve made some mistakes, but thankfully I’ve had successes that outweighed them and things turned out alright.

<Rooella> I want to keep the focus of this interview on you, as this is probably your last talk with us here at Lineage 1 - at least in an official capacity, but I have to ask... how is Fracas getting along? Do you think he's fully prepared to carry-out the role to the standards you'd expect?
<GMScout> In his short time on Lineage, Fracas has already had a number of crazy things thrown at him, all while trying to process an episode. He handled things perfectly, and he’s still here banging away at it. Yea, I think he’ll do just fine.

<Rooella> You resurrected the "end of test" GM events which we haven't seen for a long time. How much work do these things involve and did you enjoy doing them?
<GMScout> You know, I really love those events. They’re all about being carefree. It’s just fun to be able to spawn whatever comes to mind and what players ask for. But the greatest thing to me is seeing players be reckless. It’s tough when you die or make a mistake in Lineage. But during these test events that worry isn’t there. It’s hilarious to see a knight walk up and start poking Valakas with a dagger, die, and repeat 10 times.
<Rooella> LOL… Ok, lets talk about Varmits. It didn't go as well as you'd hoped - how do you feel about what happened there?
<GMScout> Well, my goal was to just put something fun on test and to allow testers a quicker way to level up. Obviously I didn’t consider all ramifications of that (i.e. potential exploits) and therefore it failed miserably. That goes in the mistakes column, #1 slot. I don’t regret actually doing it so much as I do the manner in which I implemented it and the chaos it created.

<Rooella> Would you say your role as Publish Coordinator for Lineage I has been a fulfilling experience?
<GMScout> Oh definitely. I had no idea just how much is involved in keeping an MMO afloat. I’ve learned so much that I couldn’t have any other way. We joke that being the Publish Coordinator for Lineage is like being a mini-producer. You have your hands in everything!
<Rooella> I'm not so sure that's a joke... it is what you are after-all isn't it? Lineage is no different to a long-running show in that respect... I suppose it's possible to consider your era of "Producing" as "Lineage: The Next Generation"
<GMScout> Well, maybe it’s a half-joke. :) There are things the Lineage PC does that a Producer wouldn’t, and vice versa. But yes, there is a considerable amount of responsibility that comes with the job.

<Rooella> To me, you will always be known as the GM who brought us Christmas Pie... well - that and "vampire" for which you can blame Mistryl... anyway did you pass on your special recipe to Fracas?
<GMScout> It wouldn’t help, Fracas has his own weirdness. I suspect you’ll see things quite a bit stranger than anything I ever did.
<Rooella> Umm... You said it... I have some rather amusing comments of his still logged from the IRC Dev chat "test" session ;-) Do you currently play Lineage in your off-time? Will you continue to do so after you depart the team?
<GMScout> Yes, I do play and will continue to. It’s strangely addictive, isn’t it? I tend to create new characters frequently to try stuff out, so it’s taken a while to get a decently leveled character. But I finally have some pretty cool spells on one of them so now I have the “I want more!” fever.

<Rooella> What has been your favourite moment during your time here?
<GMScout> I honestly can’t say. There have been so many good times it’s just impossible to pick a favorite. I could tell you about the time Ashiva reproduced a bug no one else could and went around doing the Happy Dance for everyone, but I don’t want to embarrass her.
<Rooella> haha! What about the team? Who will you miss working directly with the most?
<GMScout> I must say I’m going to miss them all. I love our status meeting because it’s just pure entertainment. It’s impossible to stay on track with GMSylvia starting some very odd conversations (well, she gets the blame anyway).

<Rooella> What's the future for you now? What will you be doing?
<GMScout> I’m now the Publish Coordinator for PlayNC. And there are new things coming that will be added to that. I can’t really say what that is, but I’m very excited about being involved in a new project.

<Rooella> I dare say I'm sure you'll come back and tell us all about it at a later date?
<GMScout> You bet!





Special thanks go out to GMScout for her time, and to Mistryl, the community co-ordinator for Lineage 1 US.

Exit Interview: NCsoft's CaptSturm

It's almost time for the infamous Capt' to shut-up-shop and move on, but before we let him out of the door, we (maybe) managed to snag him for interrogation. Read on for the [full article]

Roo: It's been a long and crazy ride huh? You've been involved with Lineage for longer than I can recall... heck you've been involved with Lineage longer than most folks can recall... How long have you been around, and how has it been?
CaptSturm: I joined NCsoft in the summer of 2001. I was hired to simply liaison between the Seoul Dev team and the US support team. It was quickly apparent we needed someone to "take the wheel" and the rest is history. I love(d) working on Lineage and learned an awful lot about what I think is the "right way" to engineer an online game for longevity. It was the first job that I ever worked over 36 hours on (and I was an infantry soldier years back...), but I loved it.

Roo: What has been the hardest part for you?
CaptSturm: A few things. It was hard dealing with the financial realities of the product, it's got a limited user base here in the US and I'd have liked a bigger budget to do more. Missing a company holiday party or two because I was working late (someone always saved me cake though).

Roo: I'll bet you have some good memories too... can you share with us one of your "kodak" moments?
CaptSturm: Well, we have to use other companies to support our games. Sometimes a contractor may provide substandard work that impacts the user base. We don't call out the knuckleheads publicly, but once in a meeting I attended, one of our network managers tore into one of our vendors--it was awesome. It was great to see that guard dog protection of our service by our network guys.

Roo: You've always been the players "favourite" NC spokesperson, why do you think this is?
CaptSturm: I guess its because I make an effort and that I don't talk AT y'all, I talk WITH you. I listen and tell you the truth, good or bad. Worst case, I'll not answer something that just doesn't have a good answer. I respect you as people and I think most players appreciate that and return that respect.

Roo: Of all the staff who've come and gone over the years, who did you miss the most?
CaptSturm: Geez, most of them. I loved Kyzah to death, we were on the project together for a while. Mistryl is fantastic and is always so cheerful you can't help but smile around her. Fracas is great, if a little on the crazy side. I think Scout is one of the most capable people around as well. I've had a couple of supervisors leave that I miss a ton. Too many to list.

Roo: What advice would you offer to your successors?
CaptSturm: Be passionate about the game. Listen, but don't rush to action every time. Don't promise what you can't deliver. Get back in a quick publish schedule. Hammer on the bot users (since I'm leaving and can be a little less PC I'll say it: If you're a bot user, you flat out suck. And I hope you finally somehow understand what you are and how utterly pathetic that is. Finally, watch your temper and watch what you say in front of the players...

Roo: You're bound to miss Lineage. Will you still play?
CaptSturm: Yes.

Roo: What will you miss the most after you leave?
CaptSturm: I have so many things left undone on the LoA project--I'll miss working on that.

Roo: How many fingers am I holding up?
CaptSturm: Eleven

Roo: Damn, you celebrating already? O.o
CaptSturm: No, that was last night. Today I'm recovering...owwww...

Roo: Well dude, we all wish you the best of luck with your new path, and hope you'll stop by and see us from time-to-time?
CaptSturm: Perhaps--I need to let NC do their thing. Hopefully, you'll be hearing good things about CaptSturm at my new gig.

Roo: Heh, for sure! On that note, we'd better let ya outta here before something breaks *looks at Impact and grins*
CaptSturm: Thanks to everyone. I think you're an awesome player community and wish you all the best.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Lance "CaptSturm" Stites for his efforts these past years, and wish him all the best for the future.

Japan: Prince Seiki of the Spirit Pledge, Hero of Great Aden War

The following is an interview of Seiki, The Prince of the Spirits BloodPledge.

In my earlier article, we showed how he organized a unified army to attack Aden Castle and successfully led his allies to victory.

Read on for the full story...

Nukata: Thank you for letting me ask questions. First of all, could you introduce yourself?
Seiki: I remade the character three years ago from the wish that I wanted to become a lord of a castle and fo