interview with Rappelz team

Ok I said I was working on something special for the MMO sections and here it is
The first in what I hope to be many interviews with MMOG teams.

Me: What exactly is your position with the Rappelz team and what does that entail?

Michael: My job title is Assistant Producer. I am in charge of the Rappelz service.

I do many things including: Communicating with the developer, Marketing, Sales, Managing the Game Masters.


Me: How much time to GMs spend on each server in game and is there a GM for each server or is your time divided between the various servers?

Michael: The GMs are not assigned servers.

Basically the time they spend in-game depends on factors such as if there are a large number of emails to be answered or if we have to do extra testing for new content that is coming soon.

Me: What are the system requirements for Rappelz?

Michael: You need at least 512 MB or RAM, a 128MB 3D graphics card and a Pentium 4 or equivalent processor.

Me: Other than the new racer MMO Upshift StrikeRacer, Rappelz has the highest system requirements of the games published by GPotato, can you explain for us why that is?

Michael: The graphics in Rappelz is much more impressive than our other games. The quality of the graphics and the amount that is displayed on the screen at one time require a large amount of resources to run well.

Me: Can you give me some background on the evolution of the game from the first version up to in current incarnation?

Michael: I am not very familiar with the initial release of Rappelz and Epic 1. Both were available only in Korea and Hong Kong. I believe there were no dungeons and very few pets in the earlier versions of Rappelz.

The English version of Rappelz started with Epic 2. We have gotten two major versions of the game since then. The new versions have added many important changes such as dungeon sieges, a new job change, more pets, more areas and content.

Rappelz is still a growing game, it is not in middle age yet. It will continue to grow and evolve.

Me: Now a lot of changes have been made since the open beta version of Rappelz. Such as the addition of the socket system. How do you think that has changed the gameplay and feel of Rappelz?

Michael: Rappelz is a little different than most MMORPGs. Most games only have minor changes to the game. With Rappelz each major version can bring large changes to gameplay. This sometimes means you do need to spend a little while learning to play again when a new major version comes out.

Some people would think that this is a bad thing, that games should not change this much. I think this is a good thing. Rappelz continues to expand and get better.

Rappelz will continue to change and improve with new game features and content.


Me: What makes Rappelz stand out from other mmo's in this genre?

Michael: Rappelz has a blend of many exciting features. There is the in-depth pet system, player ownable dungeons. There are beautiful graphics and music. Equipment is customizable with the socketing system.

Me: Rappelz appears to rely on pets quite heavily. Can you explain the pet system and why it is so important to Rappelz, whether or not the game can be played equally well without using a pet, and give us some information on the pets themselves?

Michael: In earlier versions of Rappelz pets were nice to have. As Rappelz has progressed pets have become more powerful, easier to level, and more important. Players will be more powerful if they have a pet. Pets are now easier to get and level now than ever. Why not get a pet?

Me: Since PvP seems to be very popular in mmo's these days can you tell us a little about the rewards and penalties of PvP in Rappelz?

Michael: Most people shy away from world PvP. Most PvP has to do with dungeon sieges, the arenas, and personal or guild grudges.

Me: What kind of support can players expect for Rappelz from first starting to problems with the cash shop, hacked accounts, server downtime, ect?

Michael: We offer several email addresses for people who experience problems. The majority of our staff answers these emails. Someone who has trouble installing or running the game can email our tech support email address. Anyone who has any billing or cash shop problem can email our billing team. We have a large billing team who also offers phone support for any billing issue.

Hacked accounts take a while to resolve. It might take up to a week to help someone in this case.

We try to have as few server downtimes as possible. Any time there is unexpected downtime we send a lot of information to the developers so they can make sure it does not happen again.

Me: Obviously the cash item shop is doing very well for Rappelz. However some of the players feel it gives those with more money to spend an unfair advantage. What would you like to say to those players?

Michael:Using our Item Shop can give you some in-game advantages and let you look cool, but we designed it to not be overpowering. We think it is a good thing that players who do not have a lot of free time have ways of catching up to players who do have a lot of free time without imbalancing the game.

Me: One idea for rappelz payment that i have heard bounced around is: a monthly fee for a static package of cash shop items. For example a set of Stamina savers, pieces of various stats, and a tent. For people who are willing to pay say $19 a month. Or a range of packages running from $10-$30. What do you think of that concept?

Michael:I am open to those ideas.

Me: There are some members of Gamershell that feel the Korean made mmo's are too grind heavy. What is available to players to keep from feeling like they just grind and do nothing else?

Michael: Many MMO’s are grind heavy. This has to do with the repetitive nature of their gameplay. This is not restricted to Korean style MMO’s, though they do tend to be more “hardcore� than Western games.

Later in Rappelz there is more to do than just grind. You can have your guild fight hard to own a dungeon, you can complete all of the quests (which are about to get a nice boost to their exp and jp rewards), and you can collect pets.

Me: Many mmo's have come and gone with out much fanfare over the years, and even some of the most popular mmo's of the past are now gone. What do you think will give Rappelz staying power and why?

Michael: I think the core features of Rappelz will give Rappelz a long life. Players like the ownable dungeons and the pet system. People enjoy the beautiful graphics. And because Rappelz will be under development for many years to come, there will continue to be new exciting features and content to keep the players’ interest.

Me: Are there any whispers about a sequel to Rappelz? If so, what should we expect to see in graphics, system requirements, and changes to gameplay? If not are there any Rappelz related projects underway?

Michael: I have not heard anything about a sequel to Rappelz. Personally I doubt it would happen. The developers are working on a few new games right now.

Me: What new and exciting things are coming in the future of Rappelz?

Michael: The future will bring many exciting changes to Rappelz. There will be flying mounts, an auction system, another job change, special non-combative pets, group arena battles, more new dungeon types, and much more.