US: Exclusive Interview With NCSoft at E3

So it began. My brother and I arrived at E3 2005 at around 10 AM. Since Mistryl had told me that our meeting would have to be in the morning we hurried toward the NCsoft booth. It was a huge thing, a monument to all things NC. In the center was a large stage with a foam dragon thing on it. Fortunately when we walked up we spotted Ash from Lineage II. We had met him at Gen-con earlier in the year. He said that I should perhaps check out Lineage II.

I decided to do so and even remarked that the characters could swim and I was impressed. The NC employee next to me told me rather gruffly that, ìThey added that about six months ago.î I felt lost and sad at the same time but the swimming did look cool.

Read on for the full story, including an exclusive interview with the NC team!

As I looked around the Lineage II section further, I realized I actually had met at least half of the people at some point. My brother sat down at one of the game stations and attempted to PK people on the Lineage II test server. I grabbed the attention of Head GM Draven for Lineage II and asked him some questions. I also feel I should add that he has long black hair.

It was only a few moments later when CaptSturm and Mistryl showed up with Tisirin.

Dlirk: So why is it that when you all feel the need to nerf other classes you guys nerf elves as well?

I don't remember exactly, but CaptSturm said that he felt the nerf to NB was due for a long time and I happen to agree and told him so. They also said that there was clearly a problem when a majority of the level 50 elves are water.

Dlirk: Yeah, but it sucks to walk around holding down B2S because of the lack of mp it gives. If it gave like 2 more mp it wouldn't be quite so bad.
CaptSturm: I agree, I play an elf and I have that same issue too.

We then talked about two-handed weapons. CaptSturm said that he was upset because even though the damage was raised reasonably on two-handed weapons, it wasn't enough to combat the new delay on 2-handed weapons. He said, ìIf I swing 5 times and you swing 10 and I'm using the best 2hs and you're using the best 1hs, I ought to do at least the same damage as you if not more. You should do double the damage that a 1-hs does just because you swing half as much.î

CaptSturm also talked about how he liked the Hell system despite the mishaps of players who die repeatedly. ìThose people who die so much in hell get the experience they deserve because realistically you don't have to die many times.î

I asked about a server merge and Mistryl said Scout was thinking about it seriously, while looking at the data on the Hong Kong server. However, she did state that at present there are no plans to merge the servers. I asked which ones would be merged. Would they all be merged or just ken/dep? She didn't know. t.t

When asked about Episode 4 content, they were fuzzy saying that it was still being developed and that they wished Scout was there to answer those questions since she is the one who communicates directly with Korea.

When I suggested that linking the message board accounts to game accounts probably causes fewer players to post, Mistryl agreed that could happen. She told me that she used to be a former IT writer but didn't like it much so she applied to NCsoft and was lucky enough to be hired.

I asked why they don't hire players to help with designing of new areas. She said that player feedback is highly appreciated when developing new areas. I asked if there were any ideas to add new 60+ hunting grounds. She said that it was probably something Korea would implement because many players are high level.

Dlirk: Besides the Halloween event which was really cool, what other events are in the works?
Mistryl: We typically do drop or polymorph events, so something of that nature is likely.

Dlirk: Meh I don't like polymorph events.
Mistryl: You don't like it because others have an advantage?

Dlirk: I don't like it because it's like I don't get an event since it doesn't effect me.
Mistryl: Oh, that seems like a good reason.

Dlirk: The event would be better if say for 50+ players you added a new morph that ran like bapho and swung/shot/cast like the 55 morphs. Then we could all enjoy it.
Mistryl: That's a good idea.

We chatted a bit more and she told me that many NC employees played all three servers and it was tough to pick a server where many played in a majority. She also said there were several 50+ among the staff with Kyzah having a 49+ and 50+ herself! Go Kyzah! I asked what they thought of the Dark Elf because it was the new class. She said some liked it and others did not. Then I asked the most important question.

Dlirk: So - Lineage merchandise? Like T-shirts and statues?
Mistryl: It's coming soon. The shirts have already been printed and they look awesome!

Editors Note: Apologies for the delay in publishing this article!