Previous to Sarumonin.com, Sarumonin was the owner of the Eterna Gaming community, which at the time interviewed the Producer of Revelation Online at My.com. For historical purposes, this interview has been recovered, as it is no longer available online.
We have an exclusive interview with the Producer of the upcoming MMORPG blockbuster, Revelation Online. This is something new, as we’ve never decided to truly interview other games, but we’re pretty excited as this is a game we’ve been waiting quite a while for!
F.A: I am Fabien Alexandre and the producer for Revelation Online in North America and Europe.
Thank you for joining us today Fabien, I appreciate the time you took to answer our questions, and I know there were many.
So first question, and I thought I might as well go with the question every person is wanting to know. Will Revelation Online in North America be Pay To Win? How are you looking to prevent players from claiming this term on this game?
F.A: P2W is a term that gets used very freely since it’s not always very well defined. Any game with an in-game or premium shop runs the risk to be labeled with it. We are currently planning to only have offerings for convenience, progress and cosmetic purposes. Since best in slot items will be craftable, the premium shop will not sell that one golden revolver for your Gunslinger that will carry you to the top of the damage meters. It is also connected to the larger decision that involves our full business model, we aren’t ready to detail it in full today.
Alright, now that the hard question is out of the way, how are you guys going to be releasing the North American version? Will it be regularly updated (Monthly) or the most caught up version?
F.A: We are planning to apply our own streamlining updates on regular intervals. Updates that will bring the latest content that was released by our partners at NetEase will have to re-evaluated to be suitable for our market, localized and tested. This will take up to several weeks.
We’ve seen in the Chinese version that the server list is quite large – any estimation on what we should expect for our servers?
F.A: We are very pleased with our sign-ups for the Beta, but the CBT phase will be crucial to determine our final server plan.
Will the community have a chance in naming the servers?
F.A: We are not planning on this.
Speaking of servers, will there be East and West coast servers, or just Central servers?
F.A: This will also be determined after our first Beta tests. We need to get more information about performance.
Will there be an IP block for some other countries? If so which ones?
F.A: There are currently no IP blocks planned.
Are we getting custom content for the North American version of the game? By that I mean, will we get content, perhaps even cosmetics, that are not available in the original version of the game?
F.A: We are actively discussing the possibilities with NetEase, we are working very closely with the development team. But to manage expectations, this would indeed be limited to cosmetics for the time being.
On the podcast from June 21st with Imba Shadow and Dmitriy Plohov, it mentioned that marriage is restricted to male/female characters–at least for the Russian localization. Will this apply to NA/EU also?
No.
Will people be able to stream CBT content or will there be an NDA?
F.A: The first tests during in the testing phase will be under NDA, but in later stages when we open up to a bigger group, still during CBT, we won’t have an NDA in place.
Is our version going to be using the same gold to cash shop currency conversion system? If so will this allow players to spend cash and turn it into gold?
F.A: This is interwoven with our choice of Business model. Unfortunately, at this point in time we are not ready to reveal more information.
Considering NA/EU are very active in PVP in most games, will you be changing any aspects of PVP, like the timers or penalties? Will you consider removing the timing restrictions?
F.A: We have no intention of ignoring what made the game a success in China. We will review case by case where it makes sense to westernize systems. We are not changing the offer of PvP or its mechanics initially.
Will My.com have any form of content control over the North American version of the game, or rather will My.com have much influence over changes that may better the Western version?
F.A: My.com is not only publishing the game but also actively discussing the development with NetEase. Both parties are very aware that players don’t expect the same things globally. But simply put, we will need player driven data to change content. The initial launch offer is going to be a fully featured MMO with a wealth of quality content to explore, we will monitor it from there.
How many raids available at release?
F.A: We are intending to release the current version of Revelation Online which contains four raids.
Will we be getting 1v1/3v3/5v5 arenas equalized? Are you planning to endorse or host community tournaments to help the PvP scene flourish?
F.A: PvP was designed to be no less important experience in the game than PvE, there are lots of exciting end-game PvP modes and activities, such as: duels, battlegrounds, arena seasons, special PvPvE zones etc. We expect players will love the chaotic massive castle sieges you highlighted or like to organize in Guilds and construct their own fortresses and challenge the best Guilds from other servers. But the smaller scale PvP will indeed be the most feasible mode to promote through community tournaments.
How do you plan on competing with against long standing western MMOs that dominate the market? What is this game doing tremendously different?
F.A: Revelation Online will offer a lot of content at launch and the focus lays on the quality of the content. The story driven adventures, the freedom of flying and the game expansive quest system provide for a fun ride. The elaborate PvP features and interesting Guild mechanics will make your experience a unique one, for sure!
Will you keep the crafting system as it is or are you planning to change it in some way, as most NA/EU players don’t like stamina-like systems?
F.A: With multiple gathering and crafting professions Revelation will cater to players who like to create. Especially knowing that what they create will be easily tradable through Auction Houses or player driven shops. These items will take effort to create but will be top tier items in the game. We are not planning to make changes to these systems initially.
Will my.com listen to players feedbacks and complains and resolve it as soon as you can? You are ok with transparency?
F.A: This is where we can make a difference. With Armored Warfare we have grown the experience of working with player feedback. We are able to translate the voice of the community into workable parameters for developers. This is also something that matters to NetEase since this is their first indigenous developed game published in Western regions.
In the Chinese version of the game, there are active Game Masters (GMs) available in game – will our version have the same support system?
F.A: Our CM’s and Game Masters will definitely be active and provide local support and host local events. They will also need to monitor, analyze and eventually combat less pleasing player behavior.
Will there be a VIP membership (Optional subscription)?
F.A: Again this is unfortunately tied to the business model question.
As for the last question, I’m hoping that we’ll get something more juicy. Though Fall is an extremely vague answer, have you guys narrowed down between September – December which months the game may launch its CBT?
F.A: I understand the question, but at this point we don’t want to make any empty promises. We have targeted fall for testing and we are hard at work to give our test group a solid game to test and help improve for the bigger groups to follow into the game.
Thank you so much for doing this interview and shedding more light to the Western release of the upcoming MMORPG by My.com titled Revelation Online!
You can find out more information about Revelation Online below:
