Heroes of Three Kingdoms Q&A

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A few weeks ago, I submitted some curious questions to the team at Perfect World Entertainment. To my delight, AJ Potter, Product Manager for Heroes of Three Kingdoms (HoTK), took some time out of his schedule to participate in an email Q&A session regarding Heroes of Three Kingdom’s beta progress. Between my submission to PWE and the posting of this article, HoTK has undergone the transition into Open Beta. Potter and the rest of Perfect World Entertainment have learned some valuable lessons during the Closed Beta phase, and Potter provides some insight into the game’s growth and future.

Continue for the full Q&A…

BETA

MMOCrunch: What countries will Heroes of Three Kingdoms be released in? Will the game be geared mainly towards North American players?
AJ Potter: Heroes of Three Kingdoms is currently already out in China and is known as Red Cliff or Chibi. Heroes of Three Kingdoms is targeted towards Western players with the English version and depending on player feedback, we may release the game in additional languages.

MMOCrunch: What game imbalances has Closed Beta Testing brought to the forefront? Will they be addressed before the Open Beta Testing?
AJ Potter: The feedback provided by our players has been invaluable—during closed beta testing, the majority of the feedback we received was on tweaking the controls. Although we weren’t able to tweak this in time for the open beta, players can customize their controls in game and we’re looking into a way to make further modifications in future patch updates.

MMOCrunch: Have you noticed players gravitating towards a particular weapon style in CBT?
AJ Potter: Surprisingly, Fan-type weapons such as the Charmer have proven quite popular. However, given the sheer number of weapon types available, players are pretty evenly distributed among the various weapon classes.

MMOCrunch: Were you able to get a clear picture of endgame/PvP playability in CBT? How did players respond?
AJ Potter: The beta phase of testing is always the most valuable, and the most rewarding period—as we are able to see how players react to various features, and progress in ways we had not anticipated. So while it provided a glimpse of what to expect, obviously due to the limited amount of time allocated to beta testing, and the nature of PvP primarily revolving around territory wars, we look forward to seeing how things will unfold over the course of the year.

MMOCrunch: You sent out test ZEN to Closed Beta players to try out the cash shop this last Wednesday. How is the general response?
AJ Potter: Yes, sending players ZEN during closed beta is a great way to test the cash shop to ensure that prices are fair and items are not unbalanced. We never want players to be able to “purchase power,” which is why our cash shop items have an emphasis on convenience and fashion. For players, this allows them to get a taste of what to expect later on.

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GAME

MMOCrunch: Will the Cash Shop contain items that are more powerful than the best in-game items? In other words, will a “shopped-out” player have an overwhelming edge over others his/her level?
AJ Potter: We never want to put the best items in the cash shop or let players purchase power. The best items will be found in game and can be obtained through instances or natural progression. In some cases, players can craft much better items than can be found in the cash shop and even sell these items to other players.

MMOCrunch: How consistent is the item progression in HoTK? Will players be upgrading weapons & armor often?
AJ Potter: One of the unique things in Heroes of Three Kingdoms is that weapons have a leveling bar, which will increase certain stats the more you use them. Players will also be able to upgrade their weapons and armor either through crafting or obtaining items as drops or through questing.

MMOCrunch: Will State/Area/Force Reputation be affected by both PvP and PvE elements?
AJ Potter: Depending on the area, yes—completing certain tasks, some of which may be more PvE or PvP focused, will grant reputation.

MMOCrunch: With the historical 3-state system (Wei/Shu/Wu), a lot of player grievances stemming from the popular 2-faction system have been avoided. Moving forward, have you any thoughts on drawing inspiration from Mythic’s Dark Age of Camelot?
AJ Potter: Though there are definitely a lot of sources to draw on for inspiration—the history and lore of the era alone supplies us with an abundance of content to reference. With that said, there are a number of new features that we plan on implementing in the coming months.

MMOCrunch: Will players be given the option to create unique builds within their chosen weapon style archetype?
AJ Potter: Yes. Along with being able to choose a primary weapon type, players will also be able to master a secondary weapon, which adds a whole new layer of character role customization. Players are no longer restricted to the archetypes of tank or healer. In addition, players will also gain a whole new set of skills when they obtain a mount.

MMOCrunch: How have players been reacting to the crafting system? Do you see a player driven economy emerging?
AJ Potter: Yes, and we definitely encourage it. The neat thing about Heroes of Three Kingdoms is that the quality of the item being crafted is more dependent on the quality of materials used than your crafting level. This means that players who don’t have a lot of time to level up their crafting skills can still craft some pretty amazing items with the right materials.

MMOCrunch: HoTK official website describes Campaigns as ranging from 1-50 players. Will there be a varying range of NPC involvement along the spectrum?
AJ Potter: Yes. The Campaign system is very unique in that players will have a wide variety of missions from escorting civilians out of harm’s way to sneaking into an enemy camp to steal secret documents. In addition, players will be able to fight alongside their favorite Three Kingdoms heroes as NPCs in some campaigns.

MMOCrunch: Will players get to participate in any of the battles depicted in Red Cliff?
AJ Potter: Yes. Without giving too much away, players will be able to participate in their favorite battles during the Three Kingdoms era.

MMOCrunch: What’s on the top of your To-Do List, going into OBT?
AJ Potter: We’ve just had a successful open beta launch for Heroes of Three Kingdoms, so the next thing on my to-do list is to keep listening to feedback from our players and work closely with our developers on upcoming content and features that they can look forward to.

MMOCrunch: Any surprises so far?
AJ Potter: We’ve been really impressed so far by the player response to Heroes of Three Kingdoms. We’re experience robust growth and Heroes of Three Kingdoms has already begun to surpass some of our other games, which says a lot. It’s hard to predict demand for a game that has such a huge following in another culture, but I can confidently say that it has already surpassed any of our expectations here at Perfect World Entertainment.

Thanks again to AJ Potter and the team at Perfect World Entertainment for being receptive of our questions, and continuing to produce quality MMOs that are both accessible and rewarding. Let’s hope we hear from them again soon! …If you are so inclined, download the free client at the official site.