Fallen Earth: QotW #11: Will there be standard MMO conventions? / What is a story arc?

Will there be standard MMO conventions? / What is a story arc?

I know it's early! I may be in San Francisco tomorrow and I wanted to make sure we got this information out without any hurdles. It is a day early, but here you go! (don't get spoiled! ;p)

1. Will there be standard MMO conventions such as:

Auction House: Yes. They will be found in the barter towns located in each sector. They are operated by the Bankers Guild of the Grand Canyon, one of the few groups that remains neutral in the struggle between the factions.

Bank: Yes. Lockers that can be used for storage can be found in most towns. All lockers access the same set of items, allowing people to get at their gear from anywhere. This is because running across a sector to get something you forgot in an old locker could take 1-2 hours and that's really frustrating.

Mail system: Yes. Each town will have a post office, mail box, or officer of Franklin's Riders present to pick up and deliver mail. Franklin's Riders are the other major neutral faction in the Grand Canyon.

PMs Between Players: Yes. Players will be able to send private messages (or tells, whatever you want to call them) to other players. They will also be able to speak in local, team, and region chat. Guild and faction chat functionality has not been finalized.

Emotes: Oh boy do we have lots of emotes. Lots and lots of emotes. And we've got facial expressions too, so you can set your character to be happy, angry, sad, etc.

2. What is a story arc?

Ever since we mentioned the words "story arc" a few weeks ago people have been really wanting to know what we mean. First off, to understand story arcs you have to understand sectors.

Fallen Earth is divided up into a number of sectors. Each sector has around twenty towns in it, a number of instances, levels, and encounter areas, and it covers a certain range of levels. Players travel from sector to sector as they progress through the game, the concept of which I know is going to send players screaming to the hills saying it is strictly linear game play. That's really not true. It's more like playing a new game in each sector, but with story lines linking all the games. Each sector is so huge and has so much content, including new play features being introduced every sector (PvP, pets, housing, vehicles, etc), it's not a very linear experience at all. Although estimating how much gameplay each sector has is really fun to do, we know the players will always out perform our estimates or expectations. Let's just say your average player will find a lot to do in each sector.

A story arc consists of a series of missions, encounters, discussions with NPCs, etc. that a player encounters as they play through the game. We basically have three types of story arcs:

1. Overall Story Arc: The game is composed of a number of story arcs, each concerning itself with a different area of the world after the Fall. These stories are all related and involve the same characters, factions, etc, but happen in different areas. For example, the first story arc deals with what happens in the Grand Canyon and why it is so important, where the clones come from, etc., while the second may deal with some other nearby location. The basics (location, setup, etc) for the second overall story arc will be revealed once we have released and start looking at expansions. It is not our goal to stop players from playing together, though obviously new players won't be able to experience later story arcs immediately due to the power differential. Players will be able to come from areas introduced in later story arcs back to beginning areas without causing problems.

2. Faction Story Arc: Each faction in the game, including villain and neutral factions, have their own story arcs. Some of these last for the entirety of the Overall Story Arc, and some may stretch between Overall Story Arcs, while others may run for just a few sectors. For example, at the start of a villain story arc you may learn of the villain faction's existence in the first sector you encounter them in, but not what they are really up to. In the second sector you may learn more about them and foil one of their schemes. In the third sector you raid one of their bases, learning much of their history and plans. In the fourth sector you find out they have a hideout in the fifth sector by capturing one of their leaders, and in the fifth sector you go lay waste to their headquarters.

3. Local Story Arcs: They just concern the settlement or sector you are in, such as dealing with a local raider band or helping a settlement find a new water supply.

So players will likely be involved in multiple story arcs at any given time. When we mentioned story arc previously we were really referring to the Overall Story Arc, which is basically the first story of Fallen Earth. Later stories set in other areas will provide other Overall Story Arcs.

Have fun with it!

~Acropolis