Hi everybody! Cryo has answered your questions to the best of his ability. We're happy that most of these questions made the opportunity to better explain what Cryo's job involves. If you have questions for him that aren't answered here, you can ask him the next time he's on a live server during a GM event! Thanks to everyone that submitted questions!
[About Events]
What is a "GM event"? Can we have more of them?
A GM event requires GMs in order to run it, as opposed to a scripted event where no GM assistance is needed. GM events can be of small (GMs buffing players and a simple quiz) or large scale (a battle tournament). I have personally run live events in other MMOs, and while it can be a headache to organize one, it is always a ton of fun and adds a great value to the game. GM-run events have been showing up on the live servers during the last few months, and our goal is to increase those occurrences.
Many players want different things from events. How do you work to harmonize their different desires in an event that will please everyone?
Our events are varied and appeal to different players and types of gameplay. We are always trying to improve our events’ quality by learning from past experiences and by listening to your feedback. When an event is over, we collect all the feedback (from the community as well as internally) and then work with the development team that creates the events to make events better. Ultimately, we can’t please everyone with each event, so we try to make events varied enough to please different type of players different times.
Does the event team play like regular players in the community and listen for suggestions, or do they only take suggestions from the forum staff?
Everyone on the team plays the game at various levels. We do listen to in-game suggestions and feedback as we play the game. However, the official forums are the best tool we have at the moment for feedback, and we encourage you to provide feedback there.
In what direction do you see the next several events going? Will they be aimed at XP/Vitality or at money/rare items?
We are still working on the specifics for future events. I can tell you that we are trying to find a good balance between XP and money rewards with our events.
Where can players make suggestions for future events?
The Game Suggestions forum is a great place to post your suggestions and ideas about future events, while the dedicated event thread that is created for each event is the perfect place to let us know your feedback about a current event.
[About QA and Testing]
How did you become a senior QA tester?
I have been working in the game industry for a few years now. I started as a Game Master (in charge of events :)) during the beta of The Lord of the Rings Online, and later became a community manager for the European community of City of Heroes. I was waiting for an opportunity to work on Lineage II, and when a QA position opened, I did not think twice and happily made the move (literally, from England to Seattle).
How much are you able to adjust/fix bugs on the North American (NA) side, as opposed to what has to be handed off to Korea?
I would like to clear up a common misconception: QA does not fix bugs; developers do. QA tests bug reports from players, tries to reproduce bugs from those reports, then sends those bugs to the development team, who in return fix the issue. However, localization bugs are addressed here in our offices thanks to our awesome localization team.
How much control or say does the NCsoft West QA team have over the localization process? Does your QA team work with game mechanics (for example, class balance) or do you mostly focus on client side implementations and programming?
We do work really close to the localization team. (Actually, they’re sitting right behind me!) Because of that, we do have a bit of freedom in the localization process and are usually able to fix localization issues quickly. Game mechanics and programming are the developers’ territory. We send our requests to them, and they prioritize those requests within their development schedules.
How many people do you have working on the QA team? Is the QA team generally an interdisciplinary team of people from the company that test things as needed or are they strictly QA professionals?
We have a QA team of three people dedicated to Lineage II. The team brings a wide range of experience from many different departments, but we are all QA professionals and are strictly dedicated to Lineage II QA.
[Other]
What is your gaming and work background?
I’m a passionate gamer. I have been playing video games for as long as I can remember. I played Ultima Online In 1997, and it was then that I fell in love with the MMO genre. After I graduated, I decided that I wanted to work in the game industry, and I started applying everywhere for all kinds of crazy jobs. I was working on The Lord of the Rings Online soon enough, then on City of Heroes, and finally on Lineage II. I was always looking for an opportunity to work on Lineage II because it is my favorite game. :)
How long have you played Lineage II?
I have been playing Lineage II since open beta. I have a fairly high-level character with several subclasses and have experienced most of the endgame content over the years. Although I don’t play as much as I used to, I’m still playing and enjoying the game six years later. The things that I like the most about Lineage II are the seamless world (no loading zones), the PvP system, and the drama, of course!
What is a common day for you?
There is no such thing as a common day here! :) However, there are common tasks, and those include testing a new patch, writing documentation, creating events, and reporting bugs to the development team.
Do you think you will, one day, create a department like the Lineage II Laboratory in South Korea?
We talked about doing something like that a few months ago. I would like to take this opportunity to ask you, the players, what is your opinion? We certainly don’t have the same amount of personnel as the team in Seoul, but we could create something similar on a smaller scale. If there were enough interest in it, we would certainly consider it. Let us know!
What frustrates you the most about your position, and how do you deal with it?
Honestly, it’s a pretty awesome job, and I don’t easily get frustrated. I guess I could say I wish I was sitting next to the developers so that I could bombard them with questions! :P It can be frustrating to have to wait over a day at times for an answer (due to time zone differences and staff availability).
Cake or pie? What kind?
Pie, because we all know the cake is a lie. And raspberry, please. :)
Why is that GM's are, for the most part, interviewed by selective questions already chosen by there possible positive responses by an employee of NCSoft. If there is any plan in the future to interview a GM by a party that is impartial?
Why is that GM's are, for the most part, interviewed by selective questions already chosen by there possible responses by an employee of NCSoft. If there is any plan in the future to interview a GM by a party that is impartial?
those are questions that the players asked in Sace's previous "as a question to cryo" thread.
Why is that GM's are, for the most part, interviewed by selective questions already chosen by there possible positive responses by an employee of NCSoft. If there is any plan in the future to interview a GM by a party that is impartial?
Most PR is done like this. Interviews by celebrities, politicians and company CEOs are vetted very carefully. They are given the questions in advance and they decide which they answer, most of the time this is their way of saying, "If you want an interview, you can have one, but I pick the questions."
Do you think you will, one day, create a department like the Lineage II Laboratory in South Korea?
We talked about doing something like that a few months ago. I would like to take this opportunity to ask you, the players, what is your opinion? We certainly don’t have the same amount of personnel as the team in Seoul, but we could create something similar on a smaller scale. If there were enough interest in it, we would certainly consider it. Let us know!
Yes pls, always interested to read it and i cant understand one thing korean anyway.
Do you think you will, one day, create a department like the Lineage II Laboratory in South Korea?
We talked about doing something like that a few months ago. I would like to take this opportunity to ask you, the players, what is your opinion? We certainly don’t have the same amount of personnel as the team in Seoul, but we could create something similar on a smaller scale. If there were enough interest in it, we would certainly consider it. Let us know!
Thanks for the answers, and before I vote yes or no to the Lineage II Laboratory like in SK, can someone explain what it is? I'm not even sure I'm familiar with it...
Thanks for the answers, and before I vote yes or no to the Lineage II Laboratory like in SK, can someone explain what it is? I'm not even sure I'm familiar with it...
basicly they test game mechanics (sumbitted by korean ppl); for example
how big is the damage penalty for fighting lvl78+ mobs?
what are the chances for a fine white cubic?
basicly they test game mechanics (sumbitted by korean ppl); for example
how big is the damage penalty for fighting lvl78+ mobs?
what are the chances for a fine white cubic?
i think u should get the idea now ;)
And it is in a structure envorionment where they can produce real results.
For example: damage difference between 150 element weapon vs 300 element weapon. They will do the test over and over and report the full results.
btw... YES, this is would be great to have here, AND, have a page that translated it for the NCNA group since a lot of things have already been tested.
Oh yah that sounds interesting, and what a great way to give the community a real way to contribute to their own game. I don't think it would bring in any new members but it would definately help with retention and morale...
And as player, I'll be really happy to see a department like the Lineage II Laboratory in South Korea. I know you don't have the same amount of people that Seoul has, but may be you could consider to recruit some players who will work for free :)
I wanna remind Sace and Cryo that the small old GM event ( with buffs and vit 4 ) stoped before be done in all servers!!! In luna we want this old event !!! I hope you understand which one i refer to :P Ty
And as player, I'll be really happy to see a department like the Lineage II Laboratory in South Korea. I know you don't have the same amount of people that Seoul has, but may be you could consider to recruit some players who will work for free :)
+1
You could for example get in contact with DiegoVargas or Keeks (both on Phoenix). Those are very knowledgeable players who are somewhat busy with their own things but could at least tell you how to best run the tests.
Does this mean u'r leaving Sace ?
fed up ?
Don't give up so fast please, we're not gonna get annywhere like this...
If GM's and even Head GM's keep switching arround like a chair dance
nothings ever gonna get anny better
in this kind of politics u get the situation where the left hand doesn't
know what the right hand does!
and believe me i bet people in u'r section WILL take advantage of that!
in short, create follow ups, even if a ticket gets escalated to a higher GM
make shure that the GM who received the ticket also finishes it, so that
next time he or she will get the same problem will be able to resolve it.
Be more Pro-active, i seen it manny times when one of my tickets
got treated, they got from one hand to another whitout being in mail CC
to the person who received the ticket first, that's a major mistake in operation !
and propably the reason why so much goes wrong
200+ times i've done this since it's been instanced and I've yet to hear from others that have done it dozens if not hundreds of times that they've gotten ONE drop yet.
And until they find a balance between XP/Money events they just dont give us any Events? Like Eastern?
i really don't see what's so hard in that
a five year old could simply solve it
per event give players 2 vita pops
and for the rest event drops as usual like potions enchants stones
crystals of all levels and once every third event time u replace
those same scrolls and potions etc with armors weapons or jewels
of certain value or even more fun things like hats or accesory's once
in a while with a good rate of getting it, good rate being like 20 - 30
persons per server getting it !