MMOZONE - Q&A with Brandes Stoddard

Q&A with Brandes Stoddard

Fallen Earth is a post-apocalyptic MMORPG, set in a future time around the Grand Canyon area. People get to choose from a lot of factions to join, and get out there in a huge world, explore, fight, craft and fomr guilds together. We had a couple of questions for the developers, and Brandes Stoddard, the Systems Designer for Fallen Earth was kind enough to answer them for us.

We'd like to thank Brandes for taking the time to answer the questions, and we'd also like to thank everyone who helped us set this up!

MMOZone: The initial plan was to have one game world for everyone, is it still today?
Brandes Stoddard: We’re shooting to have as few servers as possible. We can cram a lot of people on one server, but it's unlikely that we would launch with only one. We are also looking at opening servers with different rules.

MMOZone: Will we see big dungeons in this game or will the focus be on open world exploring?
BS: Fallen Earth includes instanced and non-instanced dungeons of modest size. We have stayed away from massive dungeons that take hours to clear in preference for offering different versions of the same dungeon map that relate to the progression of the story. Open-world play is where most players will spend most of their time, either in PvP or PvE.

MMOZone: Will there be different seasons in the game, and if so: will this affect the landscape and its wildlife and the resources?
BS: At launch, the changing of the seasons is not reflected in the landscape or the wildlife. The factions celebrate various holidays, however, in accordance with the turning of the seasons.

MMOZone: What features will the game have for crafters? And how important will player production and the economy be?
BS: Crafting is the definitive route to the best gear of every kind in the game: weapons, armor, consumables, vehicles, and more. Completing a crafted item provides experience based on the time spent crafting and the level of the item. Once you set up your crafting queue, you can go about your business – fighting, harvesting, or even logging off – and your production will progress at its normal rate.

"Crafting is the definitive route to the best gear of every kind in the game: weapons, armor, consumables, vehicles, and more."

MMOZone: Can we set up our own shops with vendors in it for the items we craft?
BS: The auction house provides an easy brokerage for sales to other players, for a nominal fee. We will not have anything more than this at launch.

MMOZone: Can we form alliances between guilds and open up chat channels for those alliances?
BS: Guilds may enter into strategic alliances, but these do not have any rules-based effects on gameplay. We will not have inter-guild chat channels at launch.

MMOZone: Is there any stealth or hiding in this game?
BS: There is no way to turn your character invisible, but PvP areas tend to have plenty of things to hide behind. A player who is skilled at remaining unnoticed or attacking from a flank will find this to be a major advantage.

MMOZone: Will the Fallen Earth's PvP be focusing on small group PvP, 1v1 or guild vs. guild?
BS: I wouldn't recommend going solo in PvP. Small group PvP will probably be the most common play style, but the support and participation of a full guild accomplishes the goals of PvP much more quickly.

"Our PvP allows players to capture towns in the name of a particular faction."

MMOZone: Will there be territorial warfare in Fallen Earth?
BS: Our PvP allows players to capture towns in the name of a particular faction. With further effort, players can make it harder for enemy factions to steal control of the town and improves the benefits that the town has to offer. Capturing this territory grants access to merchants, trainers, rich harvesting areas, and mission-based content.

MMOZone: Since there aren't any classes in Fallen Earth, how will a typical group set up look like? For example, will it be possible to distribute your points to function as a 'tank'?
BS: A typical group will have a mix of melee and ranged combatants. Some of these combatants will have focused on combat abilities to the exclusion of all else. Others will keep their combat skills at respectable levels, but will also invest some of their precious AP into skills or mutations that will buff or heal them and their allies.

The second layer of character specialization is in your preferred gear. Two of the most powerful types of armor favor maneuverability over greater protection. Another style of armor grants superior damage mitigation, at the cost of reduced avoidance and damage output. A fourth type of armor grants much less protection against physical weapons, but much more against environmental hazards and mutant attacks. All of these, however, are only for players that see fit to max out their Armor Use skill.

MMOZone: How will mounts work in game? Do they pop up in and out of your backpack, or do you actually have to park/find them?
BS: Mounts are purchased as an item that goes into your backpack. Once you use that item, your mount exists in the world and does not go back into your inventory. It is a separate and unique creature that can be targeted in combat, can become incapacitated, and can be healed. Mounts gradually lose energy as they travel and require feeding to keep going. If you find yourself a long distance from your mount, you can pay certain NPCs to “tow” them to you. Vehicles of other types work in essentially the same way, except that player crafting is the only source of vehicles.

MMOZone: Will these vehicles be player-bound or can anyone use/steal these vehicles?
BS: Vehicles are bound to their owner.

"The UI is extremely customizable. Every element can be moved or made transparent, and many elements can be resized."

MMOZone: Will player events be supported with in game items, just like in Star Wars Galaxies?
BS: No, we don’t have that sort of functionality planned currently.

MMOZone: This game aims for a "mature rating" and a more mature audience. How does this affect the game and the players? How do you make sure it won't get an "adult rating"?
BS: Ultimately, the ESRB makes a decision regarding our rating. While we can aim for one particular rating, if they assess us as something else, we have to go back to the game and make changes and then resubmit our information to be reconsidered at a different rating level. Currently, we sit on the border between a Teen and a Mature rating. We don’t expect any new content to be added to the game since our main focus is polishing and debugging at this point. We do as much as we can to make sure our content is appropriate for players including some age gate stuff and moderating our forums in a way that is appropriate for public content. We assume since we’re not pushing the envelope with the Mature rating that getting an Adult Only rating isn’t very probable, so we feel safe with where we are.

MMOZone: What are your plans about user interface customization and add-ons?
BS: The UI is extremely customizable. Every element can be moved or made transparent, and many elements can be resized. We are not currently planning to allow add-ons, as that requires a lot of coding work to support.

Again, we would like to thank Brandes Stoddard for taking the time to answer all of our questions, and of course the lovely community members who came up with these questions in the first place! For more information on Fallen Earth, please visit www.fallenearth.com or our own Fallen Earth pages.

CO Bill Roper

EVE Dominion

9dragons

STO.nl Rekhan