Thank you for taking the time and agreeing to do this interview.
Without further ado, let's get started with this interview!
Shockdot: Recently, you announced that Turf Battles will be having a Closed Beta 2. What does Aeria Games hope to accomplish with a second Closed Beta?
AndoSky: There are several new changes being added to Turf Battles, so
this will give us an opportunity for players to help test them out
while we wait for the Open Beta update to be ready. It will allow us
to work out any kinks with the server platform changes.
Shockdot: Numerous amounts of players have been wondering how you
plan on revealing the Final Island System. How will it be introduced,
bit-by-bit or just split into the two sections of Simple and Full
Island Systems?
AndoSky: Closed Beta will introduce a very basic Island System.
Meanwhile the developers will be continuing to develop the full Island
System for Open Beta. While it’s possible we may see some additional
updates between that, I think this will slow down the process so I
wouldn’t count on it. Once the full system is available, players can
then begin testing it during Open Beta and we will submit any issues to
the developers.
Shockdot: In one of your updates, you mentioned that the Island
System would have Potion Wells. How will these work, what cool down
times will they have, and how many potions will be given at once?
AndoSky: Each island will have its own Potion Well. The wells will
dispense healing potions for players so that they can PvP longer
without having to leave the island. The wells will not be found in a
set location, but instead will teleport around the island. This will
encourage players to utilize the entire island rather than just stay
only in one spot the entire time.
Shockdot: Will Closed Beta 2 be purely closed for players that were not invited or will anyone be able to join?
AndoSky: This isn’t entirely decided yet, but I expect it will be similar to how Closed Beta 1 was run.
Shockdot: Once receiving the fantastic news that players would be
able to use their Closed Beta 1 characters, people began to wonder if
there could be a slight roll back on the characters to about 24 hours
before Closed Beta 1 ended due to the fact that a numerous players gave
away, dropped, or broke there items. Will there be a roll back?
AndoSky: While this isn’t a bad idea, unfortunately I don’t believe we
have a backup of the data from 24 hours prior to the end of Closed Beta
1. Sorry about that, but fortunately players did receive quite a few
goodies that last day if I recall, so I think many players will be ok.
Shockdot: Closed Beta 1 had numerous Drop Parties and also quite a
few Monster Spawn Events. Will we be seeing these once again in Closed
Beta 2?
AndoSky: Anybody that likes Ando’s drop parties... I suggest you leave... Immediately.
Shockdot: In your most recent update, you mentioned Turf Battles
would be switching to a different platform. What do you hope will be
accomplished through this?
AndoSky: This is a decision that was made by the developers at
SmileGate for various reasons, which I can’t really go into too much
detail about other than what has already been said. Assuming things go
smoothly, my hope is that it should be a seamless that no one notices
any difference.
Shockdot: Once Closed Beta 2 finishes, will there be a down time
while switching to Open Beta? If so will it be longer than 1 week?
AndoSky: My hope is that the downtime will be less than a week before
Open Beta, but it’s a little hard to say for sure at this time.
Shockdot: Will PK Points and the Fully developed Island system be delivered at the same time?
AndoSky: That’s the plan, but we should know more as we get closer to that time.
Shockdot: I am quite sure that the question in everybody’s mind is, when will we see Closed Beta 2?
AndoSky: I don’t have an exact date yet because we are still waiting on
the developers to deliver the features they agreed to make and perform
the server changes, but my estimate is sometime in the middle of August.
Shockdot: Finally, the last question. Once Open Beta is released and
both the Island and PK Point system have been introduced, will Aeria
Games still attempt to continue to modify the game to how the players
want?
AndoSky: After Open Beta the next goal is to open the Item Mall. After
that we will continue to work with the developers to try to make other
improvements to the game, for example I’m hoping we can eventually
convince the developers to allow players to see damage they perform
against other players.
