Hero Online Developer’s Chat

September 27, 2006

 

[Xfire] matteox: Hello and welcome to the Hero Online chat! With us today are two GM’s from the game, who will now introduce themselves.

 

gmgeno: Question: When will faction wars be implemented?

Answer: As of now the faction wars are still in the beta stages to tweak the remaining functions of it. As we've seen in the past, the stress testing went along normally and gave us a good idea of what needs to be changed in order for it to run smoothly. A date has not been set for an official release, but we will keep our players posted on that situation.

 

herogmscott: Question: d22ontour: Will a spam filter for ingame chat ever be implemented ?

Answer: We have submitted to the developers the idea of a spam filter, currently we are still working on implementing one. But the plans to create a spam filter are in progress. We will announce on our website any future updates.

 

gmgeno: Question: I enjoy the game, but was there any parts of it that did not turn out the way it was envisioned?

Answer: I would have to say that the bounty system, while it seemed good in theory, needs to be adjusted a bit more to allow players to not take advantage of it. Perhaps adding in a mode that checks if a player is willingly committing suicide to obtain the bounty could be implemented so they (the two players) don't share a free batch of gold.

 

herogmscott: Question: sensuna: Are you guys planning on trying to compete with something like World of Warcraft? If so, what sets you apart from other MMOs? What features?

Answer: No we are not trying to compete with World of Warcraft. Our game is completely different from theirs. Ours is based around the realm of martial arts. What sets our game apart from the others is our fighting style and animation. Our story is based in ancient China.

 

gmgeno: Question: What is combat like? Does your character automatically attack, or is it realtime?

Answer: Your character has both an auto-attack mode and a single attack mode (toggled on/off by pressing the [F] key)

 

herogmscott: Question: WNxrodo: When are you guys gonna add more events, there has only been a monster event and a few others?

Answer: Yes we will be doing more events. Right now we are working on the current story / guide events which are in progress. Due to the overwhelming response to our contests, it is taking longer for us to judge winners. After these contests are finished. We will announce on our website new contests.

 

gmgeno: Question: Will there be any type of guide besides player guides to strengthening or composing item in game?

Answer: There are a few guides being worked on in-house that may be released very soon that give a general overview of the strengthening and composing system. A lot of the legwork has been done by our players (part of which is why we've offered prizes to those submitting guides) and we feel that it's a good way for the community to grow by sharing ideas with one another.

 

gmgeno: Question: How much do you promote working in parties vs. solo play? Do you prefer one over the other?

Answer: Working in parties is a huge part of Hero Online. By being in a social environment, you're able to make connections and network to a larger portion of the HO community. When it comes time for our player guilds to take down the 12 Demons, partying will be a MUST, and yes I prefer it over solo play.

 

gmgeno: Question: Will characters be customizable from the beginning in the near future or possibly new classes to choose from?

Answer: Customization is an area that will always be worked on. Usually the Hero Tavern (Premium Items) is where the new items will be. New classes, however, has not been announced.

 

herogmscott: Question: [IronChef]Italian: How would you describe the game for someone who has never played mmorpg's?

Answer: Hero Online is like participating in the ancient china civilization, you are to slowly learn martial arts and master your skills to become champions. You chose your House (Faction) and work together with your faction to destroy the opposing faction. You may also participate in the love storyline, random quests, and the main story line which involves mystery and the awakening of the 12 demons.

 

gmgeno: Question: Are you going to have an event for Chinese New Year? I know a lot of other asian-based MMOs have something special for that.

Answer: We can most definitely have an event during the Chinese New Year! It's a blast to celebrate it in real life, why not do it in our world as well? :)

Answer: Bots are a heated topic at the moment, and for some who know me in game, know my feelings about them. We are always on the lookout for those players wanting to utilize a third party program to cheat the system and benefit themselves while making our hard working and loyal players look like fools. They're a breed of players that are hard to combat, but we will do all we can to ensure a solid gameplay experience. :)

 

herogmscott: Question: Teh DS: What is combat like? Does your character automatically attack, or is it realtime (for example, if you click on an enemy, does your character attack on it's own, or do you need to click or something each time to use your weapon, such as in the Zelda games for nintendo systems)?

Answer: You are given the option to either have your character auto attack or you can manually attack monsters / other players. However skills are only activated manually.

 

herogmscott: Question: WNxrodo: What are your future plans for hero?

Answer: What is released for hero right now is just the tip of the iceberg, there are many new and exciting things to come in the near future!

 

herogmscott: Question: neoix: The Blacksmiths are evil. Will there be an implementation of showing the success rate when strengthening/crafting items?

Answer: Yes we hate the blacksmith too. Unfortunately for now there is no implementation of a % Success rate for him. However in the near future there will be an item which will save your weapon from being destroyed. Keep your eyes on our website for any future updates.

 

gmgeno: Question: Will there be "wasd" movement?

Answer: There was a poll we put up roughly a month ago that asked that very question: Do you want WASD movement? Out of roughly 100,000 registered users, we only got a response of about 300 in favor of it. We continually look for ways to improve the game to cater to our players needs, but if the need is not there then it would not make for a solid move to change a formula that most (apparently) find as acceptable.

 

herogmscott: Question: WNxrodo: Are you working on adding more quest/side quest and more maps?

Answer: Yes we will be adding more quests / side quests / love quests / main quests / maps in the near future.

 

gmgeno: Question: There have been rumors that the 2nd job skills of warriors will be revamp? Is this true?

Answer: They are currently being looked into, unfortunately no date has been given, but we hope to see it in an update very soon. So is it a rumor? No, we hear the warriors and their cries for help in the skills department.

 

herogmscott: Question: [IronChef]Chinese: Are there any movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Iron Monkey that have influenced the direction of skills and abilities?

Answer: I’m not sure whether or not they were inspired by these movies. But a lot of the moves including the windwalk and flying have very similar animation to these movies.

 

gmgeno: Question: Do you envision a static level cap with lateral advancement at the top (like AAs in EQ) or do you envision an ever increasing cap? Or perhaps some kind of re-morting?

Answer: The level cap in place as of now (100) is a solid cap, as most players tend to slow in the leveling department around 8Dan (level 80). A re-morting, eh? An idea like that isn't so far fetched. How would game play be affected if one were to plateau, and then move beyond that? What kind of power could you obtain then?

 

herogmscott: Question: [IronChef]Chinese: I'm a big fan of how a game looks. What is the inspiration for the art style of Hero Online?

Answer: Our inspiration for Hero Online is wanting to be participating in ancient china battles. Players wanted to be part of a "House" against another "House"

 

gmgeno: Question: How do you plan on marketing it to the game community as a whole? Magazine advertisements? A box available in stores? Or strictly on-line?

Answer: Hero Online has been on my respected gaming news sites (Gamespy, IGN), as well as some print mags (CGW, PC Gamer), so the marketing is out there.

 

herogmscott: Question: [Xfire] Artaxs: Why did the Devs decide to start some classes out with weapons that they cannot use at level one

Answer: I imagine it’s because you get to see the animation of hand to hand martial arts no matter what weapon class you decide. I think it looks great. =)

 

gmgeno: Question: Will a strengthening fail even if I have 3 items?

Answer: There's always a chance that an item strengthening can fail. That's the gamble you take for more power.

 

herogmscott: Question: Hawkeye: When do you think these "new and exciting" things are coming?

Answer: We cannot give exact dates but they are to be released in the near future. I as well can’t wait to see the new and exciting changes.

 

gmgeno: Question: Will there be a nation war kinda thing in the future?

Answer: I believe you're referring to the Faction War that we are currently testing.

 

gmgeno: Question: I'm hearing about these "fortune boxes", how exactly does this work?

Answer: It's a game of chance, really. You obtain a fortune box in your inventory, and it asks to be opened for a price of, say, 1k gold. Do you pay the 1k and see what's inside? Or do you sell it off instead to make a guaranteed profit? Daring players have opened many of those boxes only to find Rare Items inside.

 

herogmscott: Question: sensuna: How long has Hero been in development, all in all?

Answer: Hero Online originated in Korea. It has been released in Korea for about a year and a half. They are developing all types of new upgrades and such. As soon as they finish and we get it translated. We will be upgraded as well.

 

gmgeno: Question: Will there be anything implemented to even up the war efforts like we saw in the last test of uneven numbers of zhuang and shao?

Answer: The only thing that could be added to balance out the wars in that manner would be an item that would let you leave a faction for the opposite. The downside to that, however, is player stacking after Faction A beats Faction B for the umpteenth week in a row.

 

gmgeno: Question: Typically, how long is it from when something is released in Korea to where it is available here?

Answer: There really isn't a "Typical" timeframe that a game from overseas gets translated and brought over here to the Western world. If a company is seeing profits and good numbers of their game overseas and want to test the waters over here, then it's at their discretion when they want to start up an American project as well.

 

herogmscott: Question: eezy: With so many new items already being proposed, will people who don't have the money to buy tavern items become obsolete in the future of Hero Online?

Answer: No but you will find it harder than the people purchasing these items to level. Most of our Hero Tavern items are designed for PVE and not PVP. Basically it will take you longer to level than those with the plus shop items.

 

gmgeno: Question: How involved is the translation process?

Answer: For Hero Online, we had a dedicated team of individuals who worked crazy hours to make sure the translations are as close to the original meanings as possible. Phrases had to be changed and the storyline had to (obviously) be kept close.

 

herogmscott: Question: herodevinnator: Scott, what do you do when you find a glitch?

Answer: When bugs are found ingame. We investigate them and try to find out exactly how these bugs are caused. Then we send a detailed report to the developers for them to fix.

 

gmgeno: Question: What’s the expanded inventory for?

Answer: The expanded inventory is for items worn above your armor. These items (usually a set of garments) will add to the stats you currently have beneath your armor with a set of their own stats. At a recent event we gave 4 sets of the Emporer's garments. They mainly work to boost resistances (Paralysis, confusion) or boost HP/Chi.

 

herogmscott: Question: 04chf4c3: in PVP can anyone battle anyone or is there a level limit on those that can battle each other... such as lvl 5's can only battle lvl 5's they cant battle lvl 10's?

Answer: As far as PVP in the PVP areas such as mudo there is only a level cap of 20+ which if you are under 20 you are not attackable by other players. However if you are 20-100 you are attackable. However in faction wars so far there are 41-59 and 60+ battles separated

 

gmgeno: Question: Can you extract stuff on armor and weapons that drop in the wild or does it have to be something previously added by someone? If it can be extract from Wild Items, then what level does the weapon have to be for extraction?

Answer: You cannot extract from items you find in the wild. Even after you strengthen an item yourself there is still a chance your extraction will fail.

 

herogmscott: Question: Hawkeye: Question-About Faction Wars, Couldn’t you just limit the number of one side to not be able to go higher than the other?

Answer: That is a great suggestion. I will add that to my suggestions to be sent in about an hour to Korea. Thanks!

 

herogmscott: Question: insanejason: Do mounts have a 4th evolve or is it not gonna evolve any farther?

Answer: There are new things to be implemented to Hero Online soon. You never know what kinds of new things will happen to your mounts....

 

[Xfire] matteox: Ok, 10 minutes left.

 

gmgeno: Question: [IronChef]Chinese: Following up on the translation question, how far behind is the English speaking parts of the Hero Online world compared to the Korean version?

Answer: If any expansions or updates come down the wire from our Korean counterpart, you can rest assured our English translating team is on it and up to date. If there are any errors seen, we try to catch them as soon as possible.

 

herogmscott: Question: herodevinnator: When will Dueling be implemented? There used to be a button in open and closed beta.

Answer: There was an error in translation in closed beta. There is no dueling currently in Hero Online. But you never know what will be implimented in the future.

 

gmgeno: Question: When the faction wars is implemented, will it be on a weekly basis or daily basis?

Answer: The plan as of now is to have that go down on a weekly basis. If it was up to me, I'd like to have it up every few hours, and we might be able to persuade a change like that, were there enough interest in it.

 

gmgeno: Question: [IronChef]Chinese: Does the development team plan to expand the codebase to include Directx10 and 64-bit computing in the future?

Answer: As of now, there are no plans to expand the codebase for Dx10, or any 64-bit OS.

 

herogmscott: Question: Geezy: Are there any plans to implement new pets/new pet types into the game? If so, is there any time frame for their implementations?

Answer: Yes there are going to be new pets implemented in the near future. However there is no time given to us yet on when this will happen. Keep checking our website for future updates.

 

gmgeno: Question: Hitman: Your system for guilds is great but will there ever be a ally system to have alliances with other guilds and have a alliance talk channel so we all can talk to each other kinda like shout?

Answer: There is a system in place that would function in the same way as you're describing. It would be an expansion of the current Guild system that would allow an umbrella "faction" to communicate amongst themselves. As of now, it has not been released.

 

herogmscott: Question: UF]BulletxxProof: Will there ever be a web profile stats system, where we can look up our character online via webpage?

Answer: Currently there is no way to see anyone’s stats system. I’m not sure if there will be any implemented in the future. Because a lot of players like to keep their special build private from anyone to see.

 

herogmscott: Question: galrond: Will Hero always be free to download and play or when full release comes will it be a pay to play game like EQ?

Answer: Hero will always be free to download and play forever with the option of cash shop unique items.

 

[Xfire] matteox: Ok, that concludes the chat. Thanks again to the GM’s from Hero Online!

 

[Xfire] matteox: And now onto the prizes!

 

[Xfire] matteox: 20 Hero Online t-shirts and posters:

 

[Xfire] matteox: 20. Quietboy

 

[Xfire] matteox: 19. Wan

 

[Xfire] matteox: 18. WNxrodo

 

[Xfire] matteox: 17. IronChef]Italian

 

[Xfire] matteox: 16. poolfury

 

[Xfire] matteox: 15. ]Ħ4[-:KhmaiXL²

 

[Xfire] matteox: 14. Sensuna

 

[Xfire] matteox: 13. icu2hehe

 

[Xfire] matteox: 12. angelickelly

 

[Xfire] matteox: 11. galrond

 

[Xfire] matteox: 10. Teh DS

 

[Xfire] matteox: 9. [IronChef]Chinese

 

[Xfire] matteox: 8. Hitman

 

[Xfire] matteox: 7. {=F-L=}Ĉpţ.Ħĕłŀ_ƒîŗę

 

[Xfire] matteox: 6. infinitizip

 

[Xfire] matteox: 5. r04chf4c3

 

[Xfire] matteox: 4. |= (_) C |< E R

 

[Xfire] matteox: 3. d22ontour

 

[Xfire] matteox: 2. hakkiko

 

[Xfire] matteox: 1. xaquchana

 

[Xfire] matteox: Congratulations to the winners! I will be PMing the winners shortly so do not sign off just yet and thank you everyone for coming out for the chat.

 

[Xfire] matteox: Because of some confusion two prizes were awarded to the same person--the second prize is now awarded to:

 

[Xfire] matteox: Geezy