Entrevista com a Gravity!

What are the developer gatherings?

In order to improve relations with their customers and allow the users of Ragnarok a hand in the development of the Renewal project, the Gravity development team is performing regularly scheduled gatherings with fansite owners. Fansite owners, such as the Ragnagate admins gather questions from their members and present them to the development team. While usually these gatherings occur online in game, at times they will meet offline at gravity HQ.

From this point on there is a gathering usually every Friday.

About the translation

During translation, the interpretation is fairly loose. I hope however that it properly conveys the message of the original conversation. A couple of very vauge questions might be omitted as well, and I appologize for that.

Renewal/3rd Job Online Gathering #1 - 09/02/13 (Friday)

(A translation of this will come shortly)

Renewal/3rd Job Online Gathering #2 - 09/02/19 (Thursday)

Q. Now that there is no longer instant cast, can you consider changing the job requirement on the Mjolnir?

A. Instant cast wasn't the primary reason for limiting the Mjolnir's usable job.
At this time, we aren't considering making any changes to it.

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Q. The Tae Goo Lyong's Job 70 option can't be used on 3rd jobs.
Are there any plans to adjust this and other items that are weakened by the lower max job level?

A. The Tae Goo Lyong's option will be adjusted to job 50. We'll also look at other items.
Also, as mentioned earlier, it is possible we may increase the max job level of 3rd jobs.

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Q. Because of the change in the way renewal does weapon cards, the value of Lv1 and Lv4 weapons will drastically change. Can nothing be done about the value of these items?

A. We may maintain the value of those items by adjusting their stats.
Keep in mind though that their value will likely change anyways as better items are implemented in the future.

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Q. Because of the huge change in the effects of stat points, is there going to be any relief for existing players?

A. When renewal is added to main servers, we intend to offer a one time only free skill and status reset.

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Q. With the decrease in exp value of monsters, the homunculus exp table is really rough now.

A. Thats a bug. We appologize for overlooking it.

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Q. Some monsters of certain levels seem out of place in dungeons. For example in Noggroad Grizzly is level 66, but all other monsters are Lv100+.

A. Thats a mistake with the map spawns. We'll look at changing that, and review other maps for similar mistakes.

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Q. There isn't much variety for leveling above Lv 100.

A. This should be rectified in future updates. We want patches after Ep 13.1 to apply for mostly characters above level 100.

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Q. There seems to be some bugs with homunculus stat growth in renewal. Their attack stat varies, among other things.

A. We have yet to look at Homunculus yet in renewal. It will be corrected.

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Q. The level limitations appears to remove some of the gameplay freedom players currently experience.
There is some fear that specialty builds will no longer be viable.

A. At this time the level limitations only affect drop and experience, and if your level is too high or too low those decrease eventually to 0. We are considering adjusting it to allow a greater degree of freedom, and adjust difficulty for higher levels.

Moreover, we do plan on adding special items to help weaker jobs level. For example, we're considering a special weapon for forging smiths that improves attack power in relation to dex/luk.

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Q. At the offline gathering, it was mentioned a large update was planned for 3/25. Could this be the date for Renewal to hit mains?

A. Indeed a large update is planned. However, we won't be able to release information until the 3/8 gathering. Sorry.

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Q. After renewal, some items drop in value considerably.
For example, Dracula carded composite bow or Abysmal Knight pike become almost useless.
Is it possible to allow for decarding of these items?

A. We don't intend to do that. We might adjust some of those weapons however to be more useful in the new system.

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Q. During the last online gathering you mentined that 'Siege with 3-1 characters shouldn't be a problem'. However with the level difference system of renewal, wouldn't it be really bad to have 3-1 characters compete with 2-2 characters?

A. For siege, the only thing level difference affects now is status effect duration. It shouldn't make a big difference.
Also, while its true that 3-1 might perform better than 2-2 classes, the distribution should probably be even among guilds.
We think it would be difficult to wait to add 3-1 and 3-2 at the same time, but if people are dissatisfied with the idea we may change our plans.

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Q. Could you correct the female Arch Bishop sprite? Specifically the walking animation.

A. We weren't aware of an issue but we'll take a look at it.

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Q. With the addition of the fixed cast time for skills, wizard class players have been quite dissatisfied. Is there anything that could be done?

A. The removal of instant cast is one of the main concepts of Renewal.
The reason for this is that its really bad for game balance.
Instant casting makes it nearly impossible for melee characters and monsters to touch you.

Presently, SG's cast time is cut by 20% of that of main servers.
With that in mind, the fixed portion of the cast time is 20% of the total cast. So 2.4 seconds.
Fixed cast can't be reduced by your character stats but, you may be able to reduce it through
the effects of other character skills and items. its not completely unreasonable is it?

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Q. ...do you mean there's plans to offer a shop item to reduce fixed cast time?

A. As a developer I obviously have no interest for that, even for the free server.
However, I can't really give a definative answer from my position.

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Q. What do you plan on doing for higher level homunculus and mercenaries?

A. We're planning a new homunclus "Homunclus S" for the 3-2 job Genetic.
This'll be an improved version of the homunculus.
Wether the Homunculus S is a strenghtened homunculus that fights along side your existing homun,
or if it is an evolution of your current homunculus, we're still thinking about it.
As for mercenaries, we plan on adding new ones, and adjusting the stats of the existing ones.

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Q. What are the reasons for changing SW and Assumptio?

A. Assumptio was adjusted to 2x defense, and SW was given health (maximum blockable damage).
Both of those changes were made because we felt that they ruined game balance.

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Q. With the Meginjards STR+40 option, its become considerably weaker in renewal. Do you plan on adjusting it?

A. We plan to adjust the items options. I don't think we want to remove the STR+40 option though.

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Q. Whats the reasoning behind creating Renewal?

A. There were too many limitations to the existing system.
Defense couldn't pass 100, instant cast was 150 dex, and we couldn't raise the level limit.
In the face of these limitations, we decided we wanted to renew these elements.

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Q. The term "Renewal" sounds good but...
Right now people don't seem to be very satisfied with it.
Have you considered perhaps defering it to a special server?

A. We won't do that.
While we know its impossible to satisfy all our users,
we're trying hard to satisfy as many people as we can.
We're developing it with the mindset of "Maitain the feel of existing RO as much as possible".
For those who are thinking "This is taking it too far", we're looking at these reactions and trying to solve those problems.

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Q. Could you let us test with boss cards?

A. I think it would compromise the testing results, but we'll see.

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Q. It seems like renewal has been rushed...
When exactly did development start? There still seems to be a lot of problems.

A. The first announcement of Renewal was from the April 2007'th gathering.
Testing of Sakray R started July 2008, and open testing August.
Its still incomplete now, and there's still lots of problems to fix.
We know Renewal makes people uneasy, but we're hoping that with proper testing
we can improve the game and ease that feeling.

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Q. Is it possible to remove the fixed viewpoint of Nameless Island?

A. We're looking at a few ideas on how we can fix the viewpoint limitation, but some of those maps need to be adjusted for that.

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Q. Highness Heal seems pretty useless, could the cooldown time be reduced?

A. We'll look at the balance for this skill.

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Q. Its quite dull now with the lack of individuality in builds.

A. The reduced emphasis on stat points was intentional, but we'll take a look.

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Q. Shields lowering aspd is bad... especially for jobs that rely on ASPD such as Chasers.

A. We're going to be changing the ASPD formula. Particularly we'll be taking out the "ASPD drops at higher level".
We can't say exactly how it will change now, but it will surely be an increase.

Renewal/3rd Job Online Gathering #2 - 09/02/20 (Friday)

Q. About Attack Speed.

A. This will be discussed in further details at the 3/8 offline meeting.
ASPD items will be re-adjusted, and attack speed formula will be adjusted.
It'll be closer to the existing system, but adjusted to account for Lv150 max level and 120 stat points.

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Q. With the RK 3x damage Rune + Frenzy + Critical combination being nearly unrivaled, other skills seem useless in relation.

A. Naturally Frenzy with the new skills would be an improvement over just using Frenzy.
Remember though that on main servers you'll need to gather items to make Runes so I don't think its a big problem.

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Q. For Rune Knight ingredients, wouldn't the level difference cause problems for gathering items? Wouldn't it invite botting?

A. Drop items aren't the only way for Rune Knights to get the required items ^^
How hard it will be to make them hasn't been decided yet though.

(Editor Note: Level difference doesn't appear to affect item drops of monsters lower level than you, so I don't fully understand the question.)

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Q. Right now a bosses MVP EXP is also being adjusted by the level difference.

A. Most boss monsters are removed right now to be improved.
The MVP EXP is a bug. When we're done making adjustments it should be fixed.

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Q. There's a rumor that stats may be able to go above 120...

A. The rumor came from answering a question by stating that having stats above 120 wouldn't be a problem with renewal.
Right now I don't think having stats over 120 is impossible,
but we wanted to limit it to 120 so it says balanced between 3rd jobs and 2nd jobs.
Its possible though that we might reconsider in order to encourage more unique character builds.

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Q. You say there's balance between 3-1 and 2-2 classes, but don't their max HP and attack power put them in different leagues?

A. There's not a big difference between 99 and 120 (stat wise).
It could perhaps be done better, we'd like to take feedback and opinions from users about balance.

(Editor Note: I had some problems with this one, I might not be correct here)

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Q. When an arch bishop uses throw stone it appears as a normal priest.

A. We're aware of that bug, please be patient while we fix it.

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Q. With skills like Focus Arrow Strike and Arrow Storm, the cast is so long that you'd never use them.

A. We're working on a fix, but balancing attack power is difficult.
Do you go for long cast + high Damage, or fast cast + lower damage...
Or perhaps it can be a strong skill, but with a long cooldown time.
We don't have a concrete solution but we're looking at it.

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Q. When changing from Sniper to Ranger aspd drops from 180 -> 160...

A. That was originally intended, but it really slows the tempo of hunting doesn't it?
We're planning on making adjustments to ASPD.

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Q. For renewal, how many testers do you have (in house)?

A. I can't give any real specifics, but about 10 people.
For important testing, everyone but the management can get involved for about 30 people.
There are limits to how much we can gain from our own testers however,
which is why we are thankful from the feedback from all our players.

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Q. There doesn't appear to many Spear using Rune Knights on renewal.

A. We were leaning towards making Two Hand swords the main weapon for the class.
To make a distinction between RK and Royal Guard, we wanted one to be an Attacker and one to be Tanker.
We will review the existing spear skills though.

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Q. Could you increase the efficiency of the Arch Bishops heal?

A. When it comes to Arch Bishop's heal, the question is if you adjust heal itself or highness heal's cooldown time.
Currently we're leaning towards reducing the cooldown on highness heal.
After the patch if it still isn't sufficient we'll consider adjusting the heal efficiency.

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Q. The high HP of the high level monsters make them quite tedious.
Also, the level limitations cause problems for organizing efficient parties.
You get the impression that there's no point in party play.

A. As I mentioned last time we're planning on adjusting monster HP.
As for the party play question, we plan on improving the Party system,
as well as increase experience based on the number of players in party.

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Q. For Rune Knights, it would be cool if the dragon could auto attack like a hunter's falcon (Auto Breath).

A. We had experimented with it a bit but it didn't seem to fit.
Especially when ctrl-click attacking the attack motion didn't work well.

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Q. The Arch Bishop skill Eucharistica seems like it would be great for battle bishop, but the skill requirements for it is horrible.

A. Its true that some of those prerequisites aren't very useful on a battle build.
When we're done with the battle bishop skills I think I'd like it to be a part of that tree.

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Q. For Tetra Vortex, why is it that Amp + Lex do not apply properly?

A. Right now its because each hit is done as a separate skill.
We'll see what we can do about making it work.

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Q. There seems to be a large separation between the Sakray R testers and main server players,
and it could cause some problems when it comes to main servers. Is there any way to even this out?

A. I would like it so that you can copy characters from main servers to Sakray R for testing.

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Q. While high level content is ok, I would like to see some content for beginners too.
For example quests for lower level characters, occupation related story quests, etc.

A. Since its fairly simple to level with renewal (at that level),
we are currently making tutorial quests and growth guides.

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Q. What about the planned faction battle system.

A. I can't respond to questions not related to Renewal.
However, it seems that Ep13.2 has set the groundwork for a faction battle.
As for our current plans, I have no comment.

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Q. How do you change to 3rd jobs? Will it be related to the faction battle of the new world?

A. The new job quests are nearly done. The details are a secret though. Nyahahaha~ (Translator note: Thats exactly what he said)

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Q. Are there any plans at adding new skill shortcuts? It seems required for 3rd jobs.

A. We are planning on adding an additional shortcut bar.
Additionally we're going to add an option to allow all shortcut bars to be visible at once,
and a new support skill window to allow easy targeting of skills.

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Q. Are the monster spawns finalized?

A. We plan on adding in some unused monsters as well as boss monsters still.
We also plan on reviewing monster stats in some places.

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Q. So when are you guys doing 2-3 jobs?

A. That would be completely unreasonable. ^^;

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Q. So will Sakray server be closed and Sakray R become the new main test server?

A. Yeah, thats exactly right. This way we can guarantee stability.
After the patch is added to main servers, the Sakray R server will be periodically reset as well.

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Q. The battlegrounds waiting room is very unpopular, as is the 5 minute delay.
Getting players to participate is very hard.

A. We plan on at least adjusting point rewards as well as the delay time.

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Q. If you gain 100% elemental resist you take 1 damage from all hits, is that intended?

A. Yes, thats correct. However, it could always be changed.

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Q. When do you plan to complete 3-1 jobs?

A. Well with the addition of Guillotine Cross and Mechanics in March, we should be done.
Of course, balanced testing might take longer.

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Q. Between Guillotine Cross and Mechanic, which will be added first?

A. Guillotine Cross will come a little earlier. Mechanics will probably come up to 3 weeks later.

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Q. Why does ASPD drop sharply for 3rd jobs?

A. Its not specific to third jobs, but aspd drops sharply for all occupations at that point.
It should be resolved with the formula adjustment.

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Q. How are the 3rd job sprite adjustments going?

A. The Rune Knight sprite is almost ready. The Dragon sprite however hasn't been changed.
About the "Warlock's staff is coming out of nowhere" problem...
that'll be fixed later.

Thanks a lot.