IGN Interview FFXI Producer2009-10-15 00:00:00March 23, 2004 - On the eve of the launch of the HDD and Final Fantasy XI, a crowd gathered at the doors of the PlayStation store at the Metreon in San Francisco. Gamers were eager to be the first ones in the whole country to play FFXI on the PS2. While they spent a few hours for a glimpse of the massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG for short), we got a chance to talk to Yasu Kurosawa, producer, and Keiki Usui, online service manager, and pick their brains on the game that is sure to devour hundreds, if not thousands, of hours for Final Fantasy fans.
IGNPS2: How does it feel to have everything done with the release of FFXI?
Yasu Kurosawa: It's very exciting to see a lot of players on there. A lot of players who haven't played MMORPGs before, too.
IGNPS2: Have there been any translation issues between the American and the Japanese players online?
Yasu Kurosawa: We didn't think it was going to be used that much, but almost every player has been using it. Before they go into battle they pre-macro sentences. A lot of people also use that for searching for help or party members.
IGNPS2: So people haven't been having any problems with it?
Yasu Kurosawa: I'm sure there are problems in the communicating, but in terms of playing the game and looking for party members and doing the battles and quests it's working out pretty well.
IGNPS2: Right now, FFXI goes up to level 75 and I've already been running into people who are at level 75. What are you going to be providing for those who have reached that level?
Yasu Kurosawa: Increasing the level is not the only way to entertain high-level people. [We're ] introducing new quests and monsters that require more than one high-level character to finish. We're also bringing in [Peer vs. Peer]. It's not like we will turn this game into a PvP fest, but it will be there.
IGNPS2: We'll be hearing a lot more details soon? Is there a...
Blizzard Details Secret World of Warcraft 'Progressive Percentage' Item Drop Mechanic2009-10-14 00:00:00Former World of Warcraft lead designer and current next-gen Blizzard MMO director Jeffrey Kaplan today detailed a behind-the-scenes system of drop percentages secretly added in the WoW expansion Wrath of the Lich King.
The system, called "progressive percentages," was cribbed directly from Blizzard's own Warcraft 3, which used it for critical hit mechanics. It relates to how and when quest items drop from creatures--an important issue to all WoW players.
Originally, Blizzard settled on a standard WoW quest item drop rate of around 35%, with no system in place that wou...