We had the opportunity to interview Ed, Community Manager for Lineage II. Here's what he told us about this online game recently converted to free to play model.

Thanks for giving us the opportunity to interview you about Lineage 2. First of all, could you introduce yourself to our readers?
You are most welcome, it’s a pleasure. My name is Ed, I’m the community manager of Lineage II Europe.

How would you describe Lineage II to someone who has never heard of it before, for instance, to people who are only just getting into MMOs and haven’t yet tried out Lineage 2.
I’d say Lineage II is an online game with rich history, large solid fan base and allows people to experience a unique fantasy world, enjoy new platform for vibrant social communication and stand out in battles and fights.

Let’s talk about Goddess of Destruction. What new features players can expect and what king of gameplay changes does it bring to Lineage 2.
Class system and skills have been changed, now there is such thing as "awakening", which is a new high-level part of content that includes awakened classes, their skills, etc., bringing in more balance to the high-level content of the game. Goddess of Destruction brings about changes to the PK-system, which is now a bit tougher than it used to be. Clan wars system is modified and has become more competitive. And also there some new locations, like Magmeld, for example. And of course the auction system has evolved compared to the past.

In what areas do you feel that Lineage 2 has an advantage over similar fantasy MMORPGs in the genre?
Lineage II may be a tough place to be in at times due to its PvP system that is so loved by the players of the game. But this is also the advantage of this game: it is as real as it can get, no joking around, people are free to deal with things (and each other) in the way they prefer, it’s quite liberating that way. Also, it’s massive clan-on-clan or alliance-on-alliance battles! And the economy of the game is quite lively and interesting to play around with as well.

Which are the key features in the game that stand out in the genre?
Again, it’s PvP system, mass battles, castle and fortress sieges and flexible economy.

What aspects of the game have you been working on to improve the most in the new expansion?
We are working on balancing out the awakened classes and major bosses, as well as the modification and fixing of the details of the game as those are very important to the players. Besides, we’re improving our ingame item shop (L2 Store) to bring in some diversity to the gaming experience.

You have also converted Lineage 2 to a free to play model, but could you reveal any details on the monetization system? Will it be necessary to spend money to be powerful in the game, or spending time is enough to get high level content?
There are several things that can be obtained for money; they are the so-called Premium Account, which is a status of a player’s account when he/she gets extra Experience and other bonuses; L2 Store (ingame shop) items that could help with, but no guarantee, levelling a character. Generally, free-to-play model presupposes all players being able to enjoy everything the game offers without spending money. In the end of the day, it’s about a player’s talent, strategy and ability to make decision right for his/her character. Being on top without investing funds in the game is yet another advantage of Lineage II.

Last question, how does localisation progress? Which language is coming next and when about?
German players are already able to take a look at the game as CBT has already started, shortly after we’re planning to make a present for our Polish community.

We trust many players have heard of Lineage, but never tried it due to the pay to play model it used to have or the language barrier. Our aim is to make the game available for everyone and to make sure that they enjoy the time they spend at lineage2.eu

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 19th, 2012 at 6:13 pm and is filed under MMO News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.