Heroes of Telara was one of the big surprises of E3, last June. Gamesource had the opportunity to talk with Trion about the game so listen to what they said to us ...

GS:  Could you talk about the absence of a typical class system in HoT? How the character progression will it work?

Character progression in Heroes of Telara will actually work like most MMOGs - you’ll gain experience through quests, exploration, events and so on. Where we’re different is that your character will level up in any of our four base classes (Warrior, Mage, Cleric and Rogue), but can also switch between those classes as often as you like at special locations in-game.

So for example, you might start playing as a Warrior and gain several levels. Then you might switch to be a Rogue for a few levels, then back to a Warrior, and then try your hand at playing as a Mage, and so on. Each of the four base classes gains levels independently, so to level as quickly as possible, you’ll want to play just one base class. However, we think the flexibility the class-switching system gives you as a player makes for a much more fun game, and also makes it much easier to play with groups. Waiting while ‘Looking for Group’ is greatly reduced!

As well as the four base classes, we also have an extensive sub-class card system. Sub-class cards  can be found all over the game as part of quest rewards, in loot, from merchants and so on, and can be equipped on your character at any time while not in combat to give you special abilities. Some sub-classes are linked to a particular base class, and some can be used on all classes.  This make our class system more dynamic than any other game on the market!



GS: Pets system seems to be very different from other MMOs ...

Actually, our pets system isn’t too much different than other MMOGs. We will have persistent pets that will stay with your character as you explore the world, and we’ll also have pets that can be summoned. As an example, in our E3 presentation, we showed a character gaining the ability to summon skeletons when the player equipped the Grave Lord sub-class card; those combat pets would be available while the Grave Lord sub-class is equipped.


GS: You talk about a game without instances, isn't it? How about the classic dungeons or instance group party?

The majority of the world of Telara is persistent and not instanced, yes. We wanted the world to be persistent, in part, just so it feels more ‘real’, but also so we can stage massive events that involve a large number of players. Our server technology allows us to do this.

However, in addition to that, we also have classic instanced dungeons along with high-level raid content.


GS: A key feature of HoT is the heroic quests. Could you talk about this aspect more in detail?

Absolutely. Heroic Quests are publicly available quests that may exist in any part of the game world and will be open for all nearby players to take part in.

That concept might sound familiar, but as our vision is for the world of Telara to truly feel alive and for your character to react to events as a hero, Heroic Quests will work differently than anything you may have experienced before. To begin with, Heroic Quests will not always be found in the same place or at the same time in the game world; we want them to surprise you, and to truly challenge you to become a hero. True heroism is about reacting to difficulty and adversity and about overcoming those odds; it’s not about turning up at a certain place and time to smack a monster around.

As well as Heroic Quests being surprising to the average player, we also want to make sure everyone can take part in them. To that end every Heroic Quest is being designed so there will be a variety of goals within them for characters of different levels and classes to take part in.
 

At E3 this year, we gave a presentation that included an example of how a Heroic Quest might work. We showed a demon attacking the town of Smith’s Haven, accompanied by an army of imps. All players near Smith’s Haven when it happens could take part in this quest, which might begin at a certain time, be triggered by other quests or events, or might just happen randomly.

In the E3 example, there could be a variety of tasks for players of different levels to tackle. So while lower level players clear out the imp army outside the gates of Smith’s Haven, other higher level players might take on the demon head-on and still others may be tasked with protecting key NPCs. Everyone can contribute to the overall goal, but some players will find their task harder than others. In fact, on a larger scale, Heroic Quests will be very challenging in Heroes of Telara; but greater risk will bring greater reward.


GS: With a team dedicated to the dynamic events, we could talk about a sort of players against developers, or there will be only NPCs interactions with the PGs during these events?

We actually won’t have a team dedicated to our events because they’ll be written and playtested well in advance by our design and QA teams. The world will still be dynamic, as those events will react to other factors inside the game world, and we’re also going to be listening carefully to what the community wants to see in the game and designing events in reaction to that. This is actually a better solution for us than having a live team, because we can make events much bigger than a live team could handle, and also of course it’s a lot more economical for us to run!


GS: HoT will be a MMO for casual players? Could we level up until cap in solo?

We certainly want Heroes of Telara to appeal to a mass-market audience. With the class-switching feature, we’re confident players will be able to play the game solo if they want to, but we think it’ll also make it easier for people to engage in group adventuring as they won’t be restricted to playing a particular class at any time.


GS: Could you talk about the graphics engine?

Heroes of Telara runs on a heavily modified version of the Gamebryo engine, which uses a deferred renderer. We like to describe the look of the game as ‘stylized realism.’ The people, places and creatures of Telara are realistically modelled and rendered, but it’s still clearly a fantasy setting unlike anything in history.


GS: What races will there be in HoT?

At the moment, players will be able to play a human, elf or dwarf... but that may change before we enter our Beta testing period. We’re certainly looking to add more races in the future.
 

GS: Could we have some details about crafting?

Sure! We’ve got plenty of options for those who love to craft. First and foremost, we have no restrictions on how many crafting skills a character can learn. A character can learn just one, or learn them all; it doesn’t matter. You’ll still have to work at those skills to make them more effective, but they’re all open to you.

In addition, every character can also have every gathering skill. We don’t think it makes a lot of sense to allow a player to wield a pick, but then prevent them from gathering herbs. Everyone can gather whatever they like.

The bottom line is there will be a ton of crafting in Heroes of Telara. We’ll have lots more details to tell you about later.


GS: How big the game's world will be ? and what kind of different setting we will meet?

The world of Telara is very big and will expand after the launch of the game, but already we have a wide variety of terrains and settings, from blasted, arid deserts to lush elven forests and bustling human towns - all dotted with treacherous dungeons and forbidden temples. There is plenty of exploring to be done for the right heroes!
 

Thx to Trion for the interview.