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.