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Dragon Nest North America Release Information Thread.
http://dragonnest.nexon.net/
Present release information: Closed Beta phase 1 Ends.
that a big major change has been announced for Dragon Nest and will be Unique to the North American version only (yeah suck it in),
thus - deserving to have it's own thread to separate this version from the other Dragon Nest versions.
Say Goodbye to the Fatigue system and say hello to the Empowerment system
This is from the Nexon Blog and it talks about the meeting they had revolving
around the Fatigue system. Click on the spoilers to read the various Blog entries
Nest Building with Lucius and Princess K: The Empowerment System - May. 26, 2011
http://dragonnest.nexon.net/
Present release information: Closed Beta phase 1 Ends.
Before Shu comes running in here whacking me with his "there's-an-existing-thread-already-for-this-game-hammer", I'd like to point out
Thank you to everyone who participated!
The Dragon Nest Closed Beta testing period ended on June 20, 2011 at 12 PM Pacific.
We will have more chances for Dragon Nest fans to participate in future Beta tests. We’ll be back with another opportunity for you to play Dragon Nest in July. Check back soon for more information!
To keep up with Dragon Nest Beta updates:
• Check the official website regularly.
• Join the official Facebook page.
Thank you for your support, and stay tuned!
-The Dragon Nest Team-
that a big major change has been announced for Dragon Nest and will be Unique to the North American version only (yeah suck it in),
thus - deserving to have it's own thread to separate this version from the other Dragon Nest versions.
Say Goodbye to the Fatigue system and say hello to the Empowerment system
This is from the Nexon Blog and it talks about the meeting they had revolving
around the Fatigue system. Click on the spoilers to read the various Blog entries
Nest Building with Lucius and Princess K: The Empowerment System - May. 26, 2011
- Spoiler:
- Welcome, Dragon Nest fans! I’m Desmodeus, the Lead Producer for Dragon Nest. We wanted to keep you updated on the progress of the game. The thing is, two of my Associate Producers wanted to handle this blog. So I decided to let them work on it together in the hope that the two of them might somehow balance each other out. If nothing else, it’s an hour a week where I don’t have to deal with either of them.
-- Desmodeus
This week: The Empowerment System
Lucius: Welcome back, Dragon Nest Fans! This week I’m excited to talk to you about the Empowerment system.
Princess K: Wow, Lucius. You seem almost… happy this week. At the very least that black cloud you carry over your head has faded to a nice off-white.
Lucius: That was almost amusing Princess. I am going to let that roll off my back because I finally won one!
Princess K: Won what?
Lucius: An argument with Desmodeus! One of the things that many fans may not realize is that bringing over a game like Dragon Nest isn’t as simple as translating the text to English and setting up some servers. Part of our job as producers is to evaluate every aspect of the game and make sure that they’ll work with North American gamers. You’d be amazed at the kinds of subtle things that can doom a game when it crosses the ocean.
One of the big things we wanted to evaluate was the effect of the “fatigue” system. If you’re not familiar with such a system, in summary it affects the rewards available to a player over time. Some fatigue systems will gradually reduce the amount of experience points earned, lower the drop rate of important items, or in the most severe cases, just arbitrarily cut off play. Dragon Nest actually has such a system in other countries. Players get “fatigue points” that they use up when exploring dungeons. Once a player runs out of fatigue points, they won’t be able to play until their fatigue points regenerate.
I put together a very logical case for why this was a bad idea for our market and presented it to Desmodeus. I think he was impressed.
Princess K.: I was in that meeting Lucius. I don’t think screaming “This is completely insane!” and throwing a muffin at Desmodeus really qualifies as a “logical case.”
Lucius: It worked, didn’t it? We ended up moving to the Empowerment system.
Princess K.: Yes we did. By the way, you do realize that that was my muffin you threw, right?
Lucius: I did you a favor. What kind of person gets a gluten-free sugar-free vegan bran muffin and tops it with vanilla frosting and pink sprinkles anyway?
Princess K.: Someone who’s sweet and healthy!
Lucius: Anyway, my belief is that these kinds of systems should try to help rather than hurt players. I don’t think it’s our place to tell players how much they should or shouldn’t play or punish them for playing “too long.” If they really want a reminder that they’ve played too long, they should do what I did – marry a woman who thinks nothing of yanking out the cable modem when you’re one boss away from finishing a four-hour raid.
Princess K: May I remind you Lucius, both Desmodeus and I agreed with you pretty quickly. Rather than penalizing players by restricting game play, we want our players to enjoy the game as long as they want. It doesn’t end there. We designed the new “empowerment system” to give players bonus experience rather than take it away based on some arbitrary clock measurement. The goal is to put control of the game into the player’s hands where it should be.
Based on my past experience working on MMOs, I’ve always found that a system like this helps to keep friends together by equalizing the leveling between regular and hard-core players. We don’t keep anyone from playing who really wants to play, but we give more casual players a hand in keeping up with the level curve. It also gives players an incentive to come back every day and really enjoy the game rather than burning themselves out blasting through the levels as fast as they can grind.
Lucius: Well said, Princess! I have taught you well!
Princess K: You certainly have, Lucius. One of the things you’ve taught me is that no baked goods are safe around you.
Lucius: Not true. I would never mess with the perfection that is the almighty Twinkie.
Princess K: What we’ve outlined is just the basic structure of the system. We’re actually still tweaking the system’s fine details, and we’re currently in the process of testing to see how things affect gameplay balance and the economy. Whatever the final system ends up looking like though, the basic philosophy remains the same – take the brakes off of people’s gameplay. If you were only familiar with how Dragon’s Nest works in other countries, we think you’re going to be very pleasantly surprised by what we’ve got in store.
Lucius: Exactly! I’m really excited about the way the game is shaping up. If you’ll excuse me though, I need to leave the office for about a half hour.
Princess K.: A half hour? For what?
Lucius: Dry cleaner. Desmodius is making me clean his shirt. Do you know how hard it is to get vanilla frosting out of silk?
Nest Building with Desmodeus: Dragon Nest at E3 - Jun. 03, 2011
- Spoiler:
- I’m Desmodeus, the lead producer for Dragon Nest. Initally I was just going to let Lucius and Princess K unleash their crazies here and only interject on this blog occasionally. However, I’m absolutely in love with this game and I love sharing what gets me so pumped about it. So this week I wanted to talk with you a bit about one of the most crazy-making, frustrating, and amazing experiences in a game developer’s year – the annual insanity that is the Electronic Entertainment Expo.
Dogs and Ponies
It can be tough for anyone who’s not in the industry to understand just how important E3 is. If all you see are the big flashy displays, the booth babes and videos of the parties, it can be easy to assume that E3 is nothing but a good time for everyone involved. However, a huge amount of preparation and behind-the-scenes work is required to make this event a success. Dragon Nest, for example, is going to make its big splashy arrival in North America at the show. We need to send the message out to everyone, especially the press that will write about the game, that Dragon Nest is here and it’s awesome. In an industry that moves as fast as the games themselves, first impressions are everything.
That’s why the team and I have actually been working on two different versions of the game. One is the beta version of the full game that we’ll be using for the upcoming Closed Beta test. The other is an “abbreviated” version of the game that’s been put on what I call a “content loop.” Our booth will have 18 stations for people to play on. Six of these will be running versions of the game that allow three players to run through the Catacombs, one of the game’s higher level dungeons. They’ll get a chance to see how classes work together in PvE and hopefully defeat Vuruha, a level 17 Boss Minotaur. The other 12 stations will be dedicated to two sessions of 3-on-3 PvP matches, where six players get a few minutes to use level 18 characters to try and blow each other away.
The decision to set up the booth this way wasn’t easy. We’ve been planning the show for a long time and we had to consider a lot of factors. What content did we have available and finalized that would show off the game in its best light? What features could we highlight to give the press points of interest to write about? Even then, there was serious debate about the setup. Having 18 stations set up this way means we would be effectively limiting ourselves to running four games at a time. That takes a lot more coordination and booth personnel than just setting up 18 single-player demos and letting players proceed at their own pace. In the end though, we felt it was worth it. I think people will be really excited by what they see at the show.
Tchotchkes Galore!
Every year, one of the biggest decisions we have to make is what kind of tchotchkes to give away. This is more significant than it seems for a lot of reasons – most of them having to do with the Internet. Put simply, tchotchkes make news. Last year our friends at Vindictus gave away these cool red wolf hoods that became the item to get at the show. People were actually fighting over them! Every time someone posted a camera phone photo of a pretty girl wearing the hood or a video of a producer surfing the crowd during a hood giveaway, people heard about Vindictus. Our PR and Marketing departments put a lot of thought and effort into these giveaways, as they are invaluable ways of getting word out about the game.
On the Dragon Nest side of the booth, naturally we’ll be giving away T-shirts with a Dragon Nest design and logo. We’ll also be running raffles to give away products from the Alienware Tactx peripheral line, and Turtle Beach Ear Force Z2 Professional-Grade Gaming Headsets. My personal favorite giveaway is this adorable plushie Poochum from the game (full disclosure – I already took two home for my kids). Finally we’ll be giving away 2,000 spots in the game’s upcoming Closed Beta.
Covering the Dragon
I hope you’ll keep an eye out for coverage of Dragon Nest at E3 next week. We expect to make a big splash at the show, not because of any swag or stunts, but because the game is just that good. Our Community and Content team will also be posting images, videos and other surprises from the show to keep you up to date and informed throughout the show. As for me, I’ll be taking Princess K and Lucius with me to the show, which should prove once and for all that being a producer at E3 isn’t as much fun as you think it is.
I will update this thread concerning the NA version only and as news comes out of the Nexon office.
Last edited by Neoyoshi on Tue Jun 28, 2011 2:15 pm; edited 4 times in total
