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Heroes of Telara: Interview with Chris Mancil
Szark
News ManagerMember Posts: 4,420
While at E3 Trion Worlds revealed that for the past few years they have been working on Heroes of Talara, and new fantasy mmorpg that is expected to launch in 2010. Dana Massey had the opportunity to talk to Chris Mancil, the game's Director of Community Management, while at the conference.
For many years, the only thing anyone knew about Trion Worlds was that they had raised a lot of money. At E3 2009, the company finally revealed their first major MMO project, an epic fantasy game called Heroes of Talara.
“At its heart, Heroes of Talara is about making heroes,” said Chris Mancil, the game’s Director of Community Management.
It’s a line many games have used, but Trion has a new idea on how to achieve it. On top of regular MMO quests, one core feature of the game is dynamic quests where players should have a chance to change the world and get recognition for it.
Read more here.
Comments
Sounds interesting. Wish you guys would include information on whether it will be primarily catering to the hardcore or casual crowd.
With PvE raiding, it has never been a question of being "good enough". I play games to have fun, not to be a simpering toady sitting through hour after hour of mind numbing boredom and fawning over a guild master in the hopes that he will condescend to reward me with shiny bits of loot. But in games where those people get the highest progression, anyone who doesn't do that will just be a moving target for them and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay money for the privilege. - Neanderthal
It sounds like they are taking an idea that started in Ultima Online with the random monster invasions of Brittania. But then adding a Warhammer Online style contribution point system. It's a very good idea.
Hopefully they do more then just city/town attacks.
Like an enemy fortress/camp will appear off in the wilderness outside of a town/city and players will have to band together to go and attack it, if they don't, the enemy becomes stronger and then attacks the city/town.
That kind of stuff.
I like the idea of being able to switch classes, to potentially level each class to the max is an interesting take on the practice of making alt toons.
The idea of these sub-classes is interesting. Sounds like these cards will add abilities and statistics to the characters primary class in order to change/alter their role.
It's kind of like a respec, but with more options then traditional talent trees. I just hope the degree of hybridization doesn't go TOO far so that your primary class choice is not relevant. Like a Warrior (tank) who picks up healing abilities through his sub-class cards shouldn't be able to be a raid main healer for example, but if well geared pull off healing a smaller group dungeon or be very well suited for solo play self-healing.
Very intriguing. I look forward to hearing more about this game.
[Mod edit]
Interesting, it sounds like they are implementing a similar form of FFXI's job system with the classes being swappable on the same character, subjobs, and gear swapping when you switch classes. This game has me interested ^^
The website makes it sound like there will be pvp with factions fighting over territories to control rewards =D
WOW. Just wow. From what was said about this article Im somewhat sold already. Real live non coordinated world changing quests?! That is one thing I always dream about when I go to sleep. The ability to dinamicly change your class on the fly to take on a new or different challenge is also a welcome addition as well as changing classes without making a new character.
This game is interesting, I hope we get some screenies or trailers of it in action.
Sounds really interesting. I like the art and screenshots, and I love the job/subjob and job swapping system in FFXI so it could port well here. It keeps all areas of the world populated and not just end game areas on older servers. I hope it is a little difficult with some required grouping, but I will definitely keep an eye on it.
I hope that they have some important centralized cities ala jeuno in FFXI allowing large mixes of players and not segregating more advanced characters from lower leveled ones.
Something else I just saw browsing Trion's site is the development of 2 other mmo's. A MMORTS, and a MMOARPG in coop with scifi channel with a show that will blend with the world. Both sound cool. Link - www.trionworld.com/studio.php
Saw the E3 trailer and thought: Meh, another EQ2 lookalike with WoW gameplay.
After reading the interview the only thing i had on mind was: dynamic, world changing quests. That you and your guild can change the world in an MMORPG would be totally mind blowing and furthermore set a template for devs to pick up on the idea in other releases.
Read somewhere Trion raised up to 100 mil from investors. In truth its probably no more than 40, although i think thats even too much. Anyway if they pull it off, i'd definitely give it a go.
Hope they deliver... We heard a lot of promises of innovative gameplay before so ill be sceptically keeping an eye on this game, but i have to agree with previous posters: its definitely INTERESTING.
I've been itching for a game with some solid PvE elements that breaks from the usual mechanics. this may be worth watching.
I hope they introduce some nice community features - taverns/drinking, gambling, etc etc.
The town event sounds very interesting if indeed it is dynamic. Meaning that if no one saves the town the demons will take over and inhabit the town.
However, the contribution system for the event reeks of abuse. Spending an hour fighting demons and fires just to have some maximum level come in and own the boss and get everything I worked for would really make me angry.
The multi class system does not interest me in the slightest. Didnt like it in FF11 havent liked it any other MMO ever. Yeah, you can fill multiple roles on the same character but your character has no indentity.
The sub class cards I dont know. Depends on how they are implemented.
Yeah, its early to making judgements like this but if this the first MMO to maximize the potential of interesting concepts or not let features to be degraded by abuse or half assed implementation then I will be very surprised.
Been let down by upcoming MMOs that have "potential" far too many times to not imagine how things will turn out for the worst.
Is there any word if it will be point-n-clic ( or Tab) to auto-lock during combat, or will combat flow more naturally with twitch-based user targetting?
They seemed to indicate it would be the familiar style of hot bar and auto attack so it should be pretty standard of what is already out there.
Yeah right they are innovating. Oh yeah it has classes and levels.......LOL.
Just another Everquest/Wow clone with some minor changes. Love how these developers try to put the innovative spin on something that is almost devoid of any innovation. The dual class stuff is only slightly different than Runes of Magic.
When are they going to wake up to the fact we are tired of the same old crap. Why can't someone think outside the EQ/Wow box?
I never played FF, but "swaping careers" sounds a bit odd, great of course if you are in need of a melee dps instead of a tank if the only group or guildy is a tank etc.
With regards to the hero - I hope it is not just the one doing the most damage becoming a recognized hero, in the case of the village/demon example, the healers e.g. who don't do damage but keep the "hero" alive would be pissed off after a while and career switch to something else. Just imagine: "please, we need a healer, can't you do it? no, why don't you switch careers, I want a hero recognition for once...."
Otherwise, yes, sounds definetly interesting. I'll be on the lookout for more info in the future.
Because the EQ/Wow box is very popular and proven to make a lot of money.
If you want to invest the 10s of millions of dollars it takes to make a AAA MMO and try something different, go ahead.
I suppose though you think Darkfall is innovative....
Hmm if its truely dynamic it could be an intresting succesor to the traditonal mmorpg however it will probably boil down to something like Warhammer onlines public quests which would mean this is a very unexicting game.
I saw it yesterday on gamespot and went to look it up. Looks promising. Ill keep my eye on it.
Played : WOW, LOTRO, COH/COV, EQ2, SWG, and WAR.
Playing EVE Online and AOC.
Wtg for SW:TOR and WOD
I would like to check this one out once it gets out of the Hype stage.
Real time environment changes without instances sounds like a promising step forward in the genre.
This dynamic design is the true future to mmos. This game will be the next WoW if it pull this off.
Now this sounds interesting. I will be watching it.
So if I wanna be the best hero i should play the best dps class so i can deal more dps and then get more recognition? How lame is that?! The job system is gonna be gimp as hell unless they somehow avoid the almighty Ninja crutch that FFXI had. Meaning for those who havent played FFXI. Having a subjob system was a pain in the ass considering if you just wanted to play a Black Mage(wizard) then sorry to bad in order to be the best black mage you can be you have to play a White Mage(healer) which is a class you may want to play or absolutly dread! When most anyone gets into an MMO they decide upon a class they want to play like a Rogue and then take off. When they hit level 16 they dont want to have to feel the need to go do a subjob quest and then level a class they have no interest in just to keep from being what the game considers gimp. Ok guys lets go level our warrior and experience the same exact content all over again now so we can get that increase to power. Not to mention eventually some classes in that game actually required a multitude of sub jobs aka Monk. What a joke. So in short if they make it like FFXI's job system then I honestly wont give it a second look, same thing goes for FF14. To those who dont understand I apologize. You have to go truely experience this monster of a problem for yourself before you can truely be this disgruntled. Not to say that everyone hated this system, but for those who dont have alt-idis it is a nightmare!
My excitement towards the genre is growing more and more. I see more titles trying to come out with original features and content now instead of trying to rehash the same concepts over and over. This should be an interesting few years.
I think you may be misunderstanding how it works... Either that or I (along with a lot of other people) misunderstands it...
From how I understand it, you're not "merging" the 4 classes when you level each of them up... They're independant entities... You aren't a Warrior with some healer abilities on the side, you're just a Warrior, unless you go to town and switch to the Healer, then you're just a Healer. Basically it's the same thing as logging your Warrior toon out and logging your Healer alt in. Different skills/abilities, different armor/weapons, etc. And also from what I can tell, it's completely optional, if you only want to level up the one class, then fine.
Richard J. Cox
"There were much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust."
Interesting, I have put this game on my watch list now.
This interview definitely cranked up my interest in this game by a rather large amount, the idea of having a quest system, the game world & NPC's being dynamic enough to be able to give the illusion of you playing a part in changing the world around you by your actions is a pipe-dream for many, this might be just a very rudimentary step or they may have a fairly advanced system that runs this, how effective & engaging it actually turns out to be will pave the way for more innovation in this direction.
I hope the game realises some of the potential that this kind of system could open up.
Nice article. I loved reading it!
The unofficial forums for HoT are growing! Help populate the message board and spread the word!
http://heroesoftelara.forums-free.com/
-Matt Graham
I think you may be misunderstanding how it works... Either that or I (along with a lot of other people) misunderstands it...
From how I understand it, you're not "merging" the 4 classes when you level each of them up... They're independant entities... You aren't a Warrior with some healer abilities on the side, you're just a Warrior, unless you go to town and switch to the Healer, then you're just a Healer. Basically it's the same thing as logging your Warrior toon out and logging your Healer alt in. Different skills/abilities, different armor/weapons, etc. And also from what I can tell, it's completely optional, if you only want to level up the one class, then fine.
Okay, but it still looks like that, just as in EVERY other "bigtime" MMO out there it is focused on combat and to get the "hero" recognition you have to do the most damage to a foe. So, what it's looking like is a funnel to the majority of the players playing a DPS class in hopes of getting "1 more point of damage" than the next guy.
If they put in an equal amount of these "heroic quests/events" that take into consideration the talents of the non-damage dealing classes, well, then the system does sound interesting. But, I have a real good feeling they won't as the combat/DPS route is easiest, I suppose.
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
Chavez y Chavez