Elves And Dragons: Our Archlord 2 Interview

We recently had the chance to shoot some questions over to Webzen regarding Archlord 2's big December expansion, Eternal Strife, which goes live on Tuesday. Studio Producer Bae Yong-jun provided us with lots of insights into the game's two new races and what players can expect when they jump into the game:

Jason Winter (JW): Eternal Strife introduces two new races: the Moonelves and the Dragonscion. What can you tell us about them, both from a lore perspective and in terms of gameplay (like the new archetypes)?

Bae Yong-jun (BY): Dragonscion were created by the God of Dragons, Mighttheses. When Mighttheses was sealed by the Lord of Chaos, they participated in the battle of Chantra, joining the Humans to form the Azuni coalition.

Dragonscion are very curious, lively, and have a very positive attitude to life. They inquisitively acquire knowledge about all sorts of things around them. Their research spirit is exactly what motivated Dragonscion to keep on researching various things, and that eventually led them to the development of pistols. The pistol has allowed Dragonscion to make up for their insufficient stamina. It deals powerful long-range attacks that will kill the opponents before they even have the chance to get close to the shooter.

Despite their innate aversion to violence, they do not hesitate to jump into the battlefield, displaying incredible devotion and courage to protect their friends.

Moonelves were created by the Goddess of Moon, Neinas. They have pale skin, glossy hair, and penetrating eyes glinting in the moonlight. When the Lord of Chaos attacked the gods in their heavenly palace with an army of demons and other nightmarish creatures from the Abyss, some of the Moonelves were tainted by these malevolent beings. After the war, the Moonelves settled down in Chantra, where they later joined the Orcs to form the Crunn union.

Moonelves have strong pride, and they always look for perfection. Their innate agility and concentration allow them to excel in operations such as assassinating major targets in enemy bases and carrying out surprise attacks.

In order to boost their powerful natural abilities, they developed and perfected the Orbs after very long researches and experiments. The orb glowing gorgeously and relentlessly in the moonlight has eventually become the symbol of Moonelves.

In regards to gameplay, both races use either pistol or orb to perform powerful ranged attacks that deal great damage on enemies. They will brave death hundreds of times and fight to the last drop of blood for their faction and race.

JW: Now, be honest: Which one's cooler? :)

BY: When our development studio was setting the race concept early on, we tried to give Dragonscion the oriental feel of calm and sobriety, and to make Moonelves appear as cold and charismatic. I will leave the decision to the players on which one’s cooler. :)

JW: A lot of players loved the Moonelves and Dragonscion in the first Archlord. Is this a trend you think you'll follow, of revisiting things from the first game and implementing them in the sequel?

BY: In the previous title, Archlord, Dragonscion focused on a change system by evolving, and the Moonelves focused on charismatic fast-paced battle. However, Archlord 2 focuses more on combo skills and weapon switch system which maximizes AOE skills and action.

By doing this, we have put more importance on providing more exciting battles, while allowing you to freely move, compared to its predecessor.

JW: The screenshots of the new starting zones, Moonlight Tareh Forest and Island of Rest, look really nice. What were the inspirations behind their design?

For Island of Rest, which is the starting area for Dragonscion, we focused on bringing out Asia’s oriental beauty to fit the concept of the race. Characteristically, we tried to give it a simple and not-too-fancy, but yet antique look.

Furthermore, for Moonlight Tareh Forest, which is the starting area for the Moonelves, we tried to stick to the original concept of Moonelves that was present in the previous title. By using purplish color, which is the main color scheme of the race, we attempted to revive the cold and charismatic characteristic of the Moonelves.

JW: With your last expansion in September, you introduced, well, the Archlord system. How's that been received, and why should someone strive to be the Archlord? What are the benefits of the position?

BY: The original name was the combination of the words Arch (Leader) and Lord (King).
In other words, it started with the idea of becoming the one and only absolute king in the world through adventure and battles.

The predecessor’s main concept is still intact in Archlord 2, where players have the ultimate goal of becoming the Archlords of their servers.

By competing and becoming an Archlord for the glory of your faction and personal honor, you will become the ruler of Chantra, as well as gaining a place on the Wall of Fame. There are armors, mounts and various skills that are only available to the Archlord.

JW: Other than this update, what kind of events do you have planned for December?

BY: First of all, we would like to thank all our players, who have continued to support us. As a token of our appreciation, we are launching a very special Christmas event, which you will be able to experience very soon. You can look forward to it!

Furthermore, we are planning to release various content updates throughout 2015 so that you will be able to continue enjoying Archlord 2. Please continue to support Archlord 2 and don’t hesitate to give us suggestions! Thank you!

Thanks to Bae Yong-jun for spending some time with us!