Dungeon Fighter Online: Dungeon Fighter Interview

Talk about the made to order character system.

There are six different areas to customize your character - character class, character subclass, armor, accessories, weapons and avatar items. You start the game by choosing one of five character classes: Fighter, Gunner, Mage, Priest and Slayer. Each has its own unique set of skills and abilities. Once your character reaches Level 18, you'll choose one of four available subclasses, which unlocks even more specialized skills and abilities. Players can equip up to five different armor body slots to maximize your protection, however be aware that you want to choose armor that is complimented by your character's armor mastery. Dungeon Fighters can equip up to four different accessory body slots. Accessories all have different stat boosts and damage ratios, so again choose those that best compliment your character. Each character class has four different types of weapons it can master. Weapons are balanced between the speed with which it can be used and the damage it can cause to an enemy. Find which weapon works best with your particular style of fighting. Finally, fill up the nine body slots of your character Avatar by acquiring different Avatar Items, which not only make your character look cool but also gives it some amazing buffs. There are thousands of combinations, and each one offers a new gaming experience.

Can you give us a rundown of the classes?

The classes really make Dungeon Fighter Online stand out because each offers such a great playtime experience.

• Slayer - A swordsman whose arm has been possessed by a demon, which grants him incredible power while also trying to take over his entire body. The Slayer strikes a nice balance between melee combat and magical abilities.
• Fighter - Full on martial artist, favoring hand-to-hand combat, delivering lots of damage close up. She moves fast and strikes hard.
• Gunner - On the frail side, the Gunner likes to lean a lot on his technology to get him through battles. Lots of guns, bombs and other things that go boom.
• Mage - She might be small, but the mage has an expansive arsenal of spells. Like the Gunner, she likes to stand back and let her skills do the fighting.
• Priest - Brute strength and a god-given talent for healing. Every party should have a priest backing them up.

How do the classes compliment each other and work together?

Generally, Slayers and Fighters like to move up close into the action, while Gunners and Mages strikes from afar, and Priests back them up with power and healing abilities. Players can build their strategies around these basic conceits, but as they play, the beneficial nuances of specialized characters reveal themselves. Some Mage and Priest subclasses do like to get in close to the battle, while some Fighter subclasses like to use range-based magic. The art of building a character is knowing how to recognize weaknesses and overcome them.

What is the difference between Mastery and Technical skills?

Masteries are directly related to your combat, affecting your stats around armor and accessory items. Technical skills relates to scientific or trade skills that allow you to better build items, cast spells, heal, etc.

What items will be available for characters in the shop?

There are two types of shop items. The first are the standard Item Shop items, which currently include:

• Safe Upgrade: This allows players to store more items for later use.
• Trading License: Dungeon Fighters need this to set up shop and sell items to other players.
• Remy's Touch: This potion restores HP and MP while in dungeons.
• Mana-Aid: This potion restores MP while fighting in dungeons.
• Lethe's River Water: This resets players' Skill Points so players can create a new skill build.
• Life Token: This coin brings players back to life if they die during battle in a dungeon.
• Avatar Token: This coin can be used in the Avatar Bazaar to obtain an Avatar item.

The Avatar Items are the second type of items. As stated above, Avatar Items can be obtained by using an Avatar Token in the Avatar Bazaar machines. Plus, players can always trade, sell and buy Avatar items with other players.

Tell us about the Arcade style of the game. How does it honor the old arcade games?

It is straight-up classic arcade, 2D scrolling through dungeons, killing monsters. That's the dungeon aspect of the game. There is also a player-versus-player aspect of the game in which players enter the Arena to face each other. This is evocative of a whole other kind of classic arcade game. So Dungeon Fighter Online is kind of like an amalgam of everything we loved about arcade games but brought online so that it can benefit from everything an MMO offers.

Tell us about the world of Dungeon Fighter Online, we have not heard much on the lore.

The basic premise of Arad's story is that a great evil known only as the Devolution has begun infecting the land and it is up to the Dungeon Fighters to beat back the onslaught. The general story and the story of each character class are articulated in comics that players can read when they first create a character. The cool thing about the super-story is that each of the character classes comes to Arad for entirely different reasons, motivated to fight the evil based on very different backgrounds. The Slayer is trying to make amends for all of the loved ones he let die. The Fighter is on a quest for revenge. The Gunner is running away from the land of Empyrean, which has been overrun by a lawless collective known as the Kartels. The Mage is from a land called Pandemonium, which has lost its magic, and she is determined to bring magic from Arad back to revitalize her dead world. The Priest just wants to push the demons back to where they came from as it offends the natural religious order he is dedicated to protect. Now, these are just the seeds of much larger stories, and we encourage players to create their own tales as part of our Tales of Arad, our website page that features fan fiction.

The game remains in beta, what type of feedback have you gotten?

Most of the feedback has been very positive. Players like the classic feel of the game, the characters and the customization choices. We're working hard on some of the technical issues, notably a difference between the Korean net infrastructure and the North American net infrastructure. Due to these differences, we've needed to reconfigure the servers to optimize the service over an area and prevent lag over an area as large as the one we cover. Making these major tech changes takes some time and can be a bit of trial and error, but we're making major strides which will make a positive impact for the game's official launch.

How are the plans for launch coming along?

Plans are coming along very well to launch Dungeon Fighter Online. Now that we have smoothed out a lot of the technical challenges of bringing a Korean game to North America, we are in the process of adding content to the game. By launch will have almost all of the content currently available in Korea and we'd like to deliver some new, unique content for the North America service.

What are you plans for Dungeon Fighter Online in 2010?

We have an aggressive plan for 2010. We're planning our official launch for first half of 2010, hitting players with a whole range of events, updates and new content through the summer. Content updates will include releasing more quests, dungeons, skills, a Guild system and even a whole new character class. On top of that, we're continuing to improve our server network, customer service and community activities.

Who will benefit most from the new update, Threshold of Power?

Everyone will benefit from the newest update, Threshold of Power. Those immediately affected will be players who have reached level 40 and really want to start leveling up again. The biggest aspect of this new update is raising the level cap from 40 to 50.

What are some of the highlights of this new content?

With raising the level cap from Level 40 to Level 50 we have opened up seven new dungeons, 18 brand new skills, and scores of weapons, armor, accessories and quests. The seven new dungeons feature seven new boss monsters as well as a ton of other creatures and quests within.

What is your favorite new addition to DFO with this update and why?

The new skills are incredible, one of my favorites is a Slayer skill called Outrage Break, which hammers the ground with a bloody spirit sword and launches foes into the air but requires the use of HP to summon the sword. Another great new skill is called "Neil the Sniper" and Gunners who use it will get some reinforcements. The skill requests a backup sniper to pick off enemies. Players will select a target by using the arrow keys and snipe by pressing the skill key of the Gunner's new skills too. I think these skills really illustrate just how many fun and unique skills there are in this game.