GM Belsazar answered plenty of questions directly from players and posted each of the 31 questions with comprehensive responses in true professional manner. The answers aren't necessarily what you would expect, they responses are genuine and candid...honest even. You don't get the feeling that Belsazar is working an angle or pushing a gimmick. I personally appreciate the ability to peer into what the team has going on as well as getting to know them, their background and their values a bit better.
Things of interest:
- Functions that the Nexon EU Staff can actually do without DevCat. (Q2)
- Though EU team is working to ensure that the EU players voice is heard, the decision to move EU to premier is still up in air at the time of print. (Q5)
- About them patch notes...was that a dig?! I love it (Q17)
- A GM FINALLY acknowledges and responds to server population. (Q18)
- Vindictus is "planned" to exist until at least Q3 of 2015 with content planned until then. (Q18)
- No new website for EU until at least 2015...and here I thought NA was bad. (Q20)
- We can look forward to one update a month for a while. (Q30)
Please keep in mind, Vindictus in EU is home to the remaining XE server in the Western world and is access limited to various countries throughout Europe, some responses are specific to that version of the game.
Interview with NX Belsazar
Dear Mercenaries,----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As you may recall, I have promised a third batch of your questions.
It took me quite a while to reply to your questions, but the time has finally come to deliver what has been promised, enjoy.
We proudly present you a picture of the Vindictus Europe Staff!Originally Posted by Elyr12
1. Could you make a photo of the staff? It would be nice to know more you all :v
....The real staff is actually quite shy
The staff is able to design offline events, including rewards, and sometimes we request in-game events to be developed by the Devs. For example, the storyline including rewards and effects for the "Dew's Farewell Event" was completely created by the staff and then brought to life by DevCAT. However, before you jump to conclusions, all events - whether held off- or online - have to be discussed with the developers and can only be realized once mutually agreed upon.2. What can the staff actually do? Can Nexon create new events/choose when hold them and their rewards?
Some events simply exceed the feasibility that can be realized by either publisher or developer. That being said, I hope you understand that we do our best to meet your expectations and take in as many of your ideas from the forums as possible.
We are not necessarily testing everything ourselves, as we have a third party within the Nexon Group doing this on our behalf. They are trained to provide the Quality Assurance (QA) accordingly to the information handed out by Devs and the Publisher. Nonetheless, some things are not considered and only appear when evaluated by several thousand players. Of course, not all possibilities can be accounted for and this is where the players' creativity kicks in, discovering previously unaccounted for bugs and/or exploits.3. How long does it usually take to test new content on your internal test server before patching it to live server?
Looking back over the past 2 years, I must say that the testing and organization have gotten much better. The GMs have access to the test client and are helping in the QA process whenever a new update is due to be released. As this is not their main objective, it is impossible for them to test everything thoroughly. Addtionally, due to the workload that comes with creating new content, the Devs are not able to approach all open bugs that are reported. They are generally categorized by importance and severity and, depending on whether the issue occurs on one or all of the servers (regions), it may be categorized differently, in accordance with it's overall impact on the service.
Unfortunately, we have only had 1 event so far, which was "merely" a quiz. Running fansite events on a legally bound corporate website is not that simple. We had a couple of really cool event ideas, such as a regularly held tournament based on the Project Mayhem Tournament but, unfortunately, it was not deemed feasible and had to be dropped.4. Are we going to see Fansite events in this century?
We are still considering running events with fansites in the future, however. If you have any suggestions, feel free to contact us directly or post them in the forum. We are constantly browsing the forum for your feedback and ideas, doing our best to implement those event suggestions when possible.
The poll was re-done and so far the status is that most users voted for the XE version. We are still in discussion with developers (including your feedback, of course) to try and find a mutual agreement. We will update you as soon as there are news but for now we will stick with the XE version.5. When you're going to tell us your decision about Premiere server? It has been a while since you created that poll and it is still there...
There are currently no active plans to bring Vindictus to the Steam platform in near future. The plans that we had before were postponed several times due to other games' releases and then dropped for the time beeing. We do not give up on that goal, but we can't make any promises at the moment.6. Any news about Vindictus Steam release?
The basic communication is in English. But files such as the interview and some others are provided in Korean and need to be translated first.7. In the previous interview, you stated that one of the reasons behind the delay was because the developers' answers had to be translated from Korean to English. Does it mean that all communications between you two have to be translated before going through?
We have experienced this issue in a couple of our games. Apparently, the main issue is not the list itself, but rather the algorithm that checks the language used in-game. It basically detects a "sub-string" so to speak, instead of a 1:1 match of the word. In the case of "fif" and "fifty" the filter kills every word that has "fif" at the beginning.8. Why is the chat filter so harsh? You can't even say fifty because 'fif' is gay in French or something. In a game where female upper assets are flopping about all over the place, this seems fairly ridiculous.
We will discuss this matter with the Devs, though it might take a longer while before the matter is attended to.
Big Brother Bel is watching you!9. Can you guys, the Game Masters, see or read in the game's logs any private conversation (guild chat, whisper) that happen between players?
Funny story, I have a sort of love/hate relationship with strawberries. I love to eat them, but when I was 18, I had to pickup strawberries for my father's bakery and had a really severe accident... and guess what? I nearly died in a strawberry field10. Do you like strawberries?Would have been quite tragic, don't you think?
Dew's gender is: "tomboy"11. Can't you finally tell us Dew's gender?.
No.12. Was Karok your first character?
A Fiona. Love the gameplay. Also, I love to hide behind a wall of iron. :-)13. If not, what did you played from beginning?
German/South African with a mix of everything (literally).14. Which country do you come from (weil du ja auch deutsch reden und schreiben kannst)?
Yes, and I studied Japanese, English, and Computer Linguistics. But my Japanese is rusty and my English grammar is terrible... So what can we learn from this, kids? Don't study! Learn how to play games! ^_^15. Did you go to a University?
The Vampire sets have been on sale just recently. Yes, most of them will come to our service with a delay, but they will be available. The exceptions being those avatar sets that require prior licenseship acquisition, such as the Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan) ones.16. Vampire bride set again? Cash item dye? All the cool outfits and inners from JP and KR?
Well, unlike the US service, we are mostly using a different approach by providing the Developer's Notes, which do cover the major content updates. Additionally, we are trying to provide as much information about new updates as possible. Personally speaking, I think that the updates and patch notes in the past months have become better and we intend to continue on with the improvements.17. Why don't you provide the complete patch notes? You don't have to translate them to german if you don't have the time.
Speaking from personal experience, I can at least agree with your perception of less people being in the game. But this strongly depends on the season, content updates, and other factors. If another game is released that targets the same user group, players tend to check out the other game, but they do return for the bigger updates.18. An honest answer please: Is Vindictus EU running out of players or in more common words dying? I am asking because I experienced already once in the past at another game GMs trying hard on forum events to keep the remaining players playing like you did the last few months while nothing happend ingame.About one year later the community manager admitted that not a single developer is working on the game since the last update. (?) I agree it is not exactly the same situation here, but nonetheless we had a lot of "post something at forum" events the last months and the significantly decreased amount of players in ch1 indicates a shrinking playerbase (and there are other signs too). So I want to know whether Vindictus EU is still running economically viable or whether it is already in danger to be shut down soon.
There are plenty of Devs working on Vindictus' content for the future. We already have a roadmap for a rough outline until Q3 of 2015; there is plenty of in-game content to arrive.
We are currently also providing the Devs with some ideas to target one of the key factors of the game that players like: the storyline. While it surely is a nice to have the storyline supported by cut-scenes and other additions that build up the atmosphere, I guess most players will be content to simply follow a well-narrated storyline that is merely supported by NPC dialogues and maybe a few items that you can collect and deliver.
We are aware of the situation and Vindictus is far from the shut down status. Our focus is on attracting more users to the game to make the game's concept more beneficial to both the community and the publisher.
Unfortunately, this plan has been dropped. We also discussed offering a tool for fan translations, but we had to drop that one as well due to the workload of the Devs, who are currently busy until 2015 with creating new content and character(s).19. Can you give us a status update on the French client, for which you were "hiring" people over a year ago?
Yes, we know. We would love to change the design of our website to a more current, modern version. Unfortunately, our team that is responsible for this task has been busy in the past with tasks that were related to new projects, namely launching Lost Saga and United Eleven. As soon as the opportunity comes up, we will do our best to update the information and freshen up the website's design, but this will most likely not happen before 2015.20. Do you ever plan to update that hideous abomination you call your website? Despite not being updated in crucial departments (missing vella character info) non working links, and looking like lady gaga puked on it. This is a turn off for new players coming to learn more about the game.
We will see if the other GMs would like to be available for the Q&A as well21. Why can we only ask you Bel not all GM´s >;?
As cheesy as it may sound, I really like this community. Many different characters and even the ones that are more difficult to handle are entertaining to a certain extent22. What things do you like at the most on this game?
I am also really fond of the introduction of the boss monsters in this game. I would love to see more traps like in Season 1, as they were ridiculously funny and entertaining when I started to play the game. Hitting the switch to see your whole party die or cutting down the bridge... classic! Never gets old.
Oh and, not being a chauvinist, I am a fan of the 'jiggly' physics effects in the game. Which guy hasn't turned the camera, zoomed in and repeatedly pressed the "S" button
We did discuss this matter with the developers, however their idea of a publicly-available test server was limited only to the Asian region.23. Why isn't there a cooperation between very skilled players and the game administrators (why don't you let few good players help you test the content before it is out)?
Like Bel? Zya? Iza? What about you then? Nik?24. Why don't you guys shorten your names to just three letters?Because in my case, for example, Belsazar has a meaning, so Bel, Bels, Belz, and Belly are more like nicknames that users have given me, in the nature of internet language. And I do use Bel sometimes, if my reply is meant to be more casual. Official statements usually end with Belsazar.
You may ask them in the forum, and if they would like to, they will. They are quite busy with replying to all customer related issues as well as maintaining the game to keep it free from frauds and goldsellers. It is a very time consuming job.25. Will we see some of the GeMs recording their own solo?
No, there are no plans for this.26. Are you guys planning on Vindictus merchandise anytime soon?
By "you guys", I guess you mean the GMs and myself? I can't give an exact number for them, but I would say that they spend their time regularly in the game, as it was the main reason to join in the first place. They were and are, after all, dedicated Vindictus players who wanted to help other users.27. How much time a day you guys spend playing on your normal accounts, in average?
For me, I started to play in the Closed Beta and joined Nexon Europe in early 2012. I am one of the few guys who has been able to stick with the game, for which I joined in the first place.
They are not in a guild anymore, but I was a part of a guild before and I enjoyed it a lot. When I joined Nexon, I could not spend as much time in the game, and therefore I left the guild.28. Are your normal accounts in any guild, at the moment? (Futile to request, but could you name which ones, if yes?)
That is actually pretty much the same situation in all free-to-play games. It is a philosophical question, much alike the "if a tree falls in the forest and there is nobody around, will it make a noise?"29. Just a (useless) question; Why the gm in game are like truffle? You don't find them when you need, and you find them when you don't need XD?
We need time to translate the content coming in and, as you may have noticed, our portfolio has grown a lot since we launched Vindictus. Nexon currently publishes 8 games, and this creates more work for our localization team as well as for other departments.30. We used to be about 3 months behind Korea in updates, but recently it has increased to half an year disadvantage. Is there a reason behind this?
I believe players would like to see updates coming up faster - every month an actual content update, rather than just bunch events and nothing besides that.
As things stand now, we are prepared to release one update per month for the next couple of months and are doing our best to adjust to your feedback without creating a big gap between the content updates.
We are still waiting for this feature and are optimistic to see it's implementation still within this year, 2014.31. When we can expect dyeable avatar items in Vindictus Europe? And how it's going to look like? Buy already with colours of choice, dyeable via ampoules or possibility to change colours at any time using other method?
We hope these answers shed some more light onto our work, personality, perhaps have cleared some concerns.
- Vindictus Europe
Note: This Q&A is relevant to the EU servers which operate the XE (Extreme Edition) of Vindictus across Europe. These statements may or may not be applicable to the NA version of the game.
This is the third installment of Interviews that EU has done for their community. They began in early summer of 2013. To review some of the other Q&A sessions including DevCats response on then pertinent issues, read on.
- Q&A Part III: Interview with NX Belsazar (8/21/2014)
- Q&A Part II: Interview with DevCat (02/19/2014)
- Q&A Part I: Interview with Belsazar & DevCat (06/13/2014)
