General
- A client download will be available today (4/26/2013), but you can patch your beta client to the current release at launch.
- The game will be live at 3PM PST on May 1, 2013.
- The launch will include 5 channels and all people will be on the same server.
- For now the game will be locked by region and is intended to be for North American and European players
- Most of the content is at level 50 and includes farm missions, dungeons, Union quests, PVP, and WoE.
- Updates to content are expected to occur frequently every few months, an expansion is planned in the future and will be more than just a new level cap, there will be other aspects of character development, no date has been set yet
- RO2 will be a lot more lore-based and have more story content than RO1
- A marriage system is in the works, but nothing will probably be released this year
- The Korean development team intends for the western audience to be the primary game audience and will likely be developing things specifically for Warpportal’s version of RO2
- By the end of the summer, iRO2 should be caught up or right behind kRO2 in terms of content
- The Khara system will be continually updated and expanded in the future.
- The time differences between the European and North American player base are being taken into consideration for events that occur on the servers, no event should disadvantage one time zone over the other
- Morocc is planned in a future update (no date in mind yet), “Geffen dun got blown up…” Actually, the team isn’t sure when or how Geffen will be incorporated into the game.
- Dungeon experience is the fastest way to level (given you have a good group).
Raiding
- The Collisium will be launched in mid-May, while raids such as Fallen Fortress and CoA will be available later this summer. The raiding will be tiered so that people have the prerequisite gear to challenge those dungeons.
- Gauntlet-type PvE arenas aren’t planned but the team is up for unique suggestions for raids
- Boss fights will be tuned to be fair, but challenging. Cheesing bosses (i.e. bugging them out where they don’t hurt you but you can still kill them) and cheap deaths from mechanics will be fixed. The item mall will not be required to complete a raid.
- The Noel race will be released probably in midsummer and be followed by the release of WoE. The Noel race will have access to additional classes outside what is currently available
- Balancing changes to skills will continuously be made based on player sentiment and game balance
- Nothing is currently in the making for expanded classes and probably won’t be for a long time, but is not out of the question
- Resurrection cooldown will be a major item that will be adjusted
- If you reach second class, you can still learn first class skills.
Items
- Costumes are meant to be a thirty day item along with mounts. There will be some permanent options for costumes as well as opportunities to obtain permanent mounts
- The Grasshopper Rigshaw is a faster mount meant for the NA release, faster mounts in addition to this mount may be created in the future
- The card album is considered to be part of a VIP package and is not necessary in the game, VIP services are intended to make the game more accessible, but this service will not be required to enjoy the aspects of the game
- The super luxury bag will be available through the cash shop and large bags will be available through drops. Super luxury bags are, as in the name, a luxury item, but may be obtained through trading and possibly events in the future
- Pandora’s Boxes will be retuned to be event-drops and will not be common drops from monsters. The goal is to encourage players to use quest and dungeon items as they level instead of going after the powerful items from Pandora’s Boxes.
- Mounts and costumes from beta won’t be available at launch, but will be available sometime in the future.
- Costumes are in the making for advanced classes (styles from RO1 would fit well in the RO2 environment).
- Don’t expect people to lack cards since they will be dropping liberally off of mobs and be able to be crafted (at least regarding the common quality cards).
WoE/PvP
- Player and guild housing is not on the drawing board right now. However, WoE will be released this summer and in the meantime guild leveling will be a challenging, but rewarding way to prepare for WoE.
- WoE will include a siege system with capture points. Guilds can strategically place their defensive points and attack other capture nodes. An emperium will exist and guardians that will be similar to raid bosses will be defending the emperium. The WoE maps have been balanced to reduce bottlenecks that have created death traps in RO1.
User Interface
- Fonts are being updated and optimized, but will not be with the initial launch, it is high on the team’s priority
- UI and camera panning is being modified to better fit the NA and European audiences.
- English voices have been added and sound good. The company hired professional anime voice actors to assist with the voices. “I zay deh best dishes in zeh world!” “Toooooday we have the most elegant items (FAbuLoUS!!!)”
- Dogs now bark in English.
- Grammar and localization of the language is being worked on. If you find a typo or grammar mistake, highlight it in a screenshot and report it and it will be fixed.
- Other game options will be added in the future such as the ability to block whispers.
Other
- There will be zero tolerance for gold spammers and many deterrents will be in place to mitigate their effect on the game environment
- Player tips can be turned off in the Game Settings menu
