Questions
by Cody Bye, Managing Editor
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Answers
by Tim Tan, Producer, NCsoft North America
Today, retail stores everywhere have their shelves stocked with brand
new boxes of the Lineage
II: 4th Anniversary Edition. Along with all of the
previous expansion for Lineage
II, the box also includes the epic Hellbound expansion,
which introduces additional raid content and extends the level cap from
80 to 85. With so much new information available, Cody
“Micajah” Bye sat down with the North American
producer for Lineage II,
Tim Tan, to find out more about the latest expansion!
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Hellbound has been in
the works since the start of development for the 1st Throne.
Ten Ton Hammer:
It’s only been approximately four months since you released
the last free expansion to Lineage
II. How long have you been working on the Hellbound
expansion? Is it a smaller update to the game than The Kamael was?
We’ve been working on Hellbound since the start of
development for the 1st Throne. In terms of size, the new
update is physically smaller but the content itself introduces some new
systems and enhances existing game mechanics. Hellbound represents the
completion of the 1st Throne in The Chaotic Throne series of style="font-style: italic;">Lineage II.
Ten Ton Hammer: For those
readers that haven’t been following the Hellbound press
releases, what sort of new features are you adding to the game? Will
there be anything for low level players to enjoy or is the content
mostly aimed at the veteran gamers?
added new main class benefits through your subclasses, additional
transformations, new pet evolutions, new hunting areas in Hellbound
(such as the Steel Citadel), and new raid bosses to fight.
The focus of this particular update was primarily higher level
players. With that said, there are still many things, such as
the monster parade on Fantasy Isle, that everyone can enjoy.
Ten Ton Hammer: In the
Hellbound expansion you will be raising the level cap to 85. How much
of a power increase is this over the previous level cap of 80? Will
players need to be level 85 before they can begin to take out the
newest raid boss?
significant power increase from 80 – 85. The level
80+ skills that you will be able to acquire will further specialize
each class as well as increase leveling efficiency. In order
to unlock the higher levels of Hellbound and therefore reach the new
raid bosses, players will need to level up closer to the new cap.
Ten Ton Hammer: Speaking
of the new raid boss, what can you tell us about him? Why is he
important to the advancement of the
Lineage II storyline?
most powerful new raid boss is Beleth. He is a scholar and
master of magic who desires to surpass even the gods themselves in
power and knowledge. The common theme in the new era of the
Chaotic Throne is power. More specifically, the acquisition
of power to rule the land. Beleth is no exception, and he is
willing to pull allies from other dimensions into the world of Aden to
achieve the power he needs.
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Beleth is the newest
raid boss in Lineage II.
Ten Ton Hammer: How long
can players expect this encounter newest raid to be? Will it be one of
the longer raids in the game?
entire Hellbound area is designed, getting to fight Beleth will require
players to unlock multiple different levels. Each level will
have its unique challenges such as having to fight Beleth’s
most trusted bodyguard Darion at later levels. The actual
encounter with Beleth himself with will be on par with the other
signature raid bosses in game if met at the appropriate level.
Ten Ton Hammer: Along
with the new hunting zones in Hellbound, you’re also adding a
new feature called Fantasy Isle. What is this cartoony looking place?
How does it fit into the game?
can describe Fantasy Isle is that it’s just for
fun. I see it as a place that players will hop to when they
want a short diversion from every day hunting or PvP. In
future updates, we hope to add mini games to the area to further
solidify it as an amusement park zone. Fantasy Isle not completely
devoid of the signature PvP touch of style="font-style: italic;">Lineage II,
though—the Underground Coliseum is also located there.
Ten Ton Hammer: Aside
from the new PvE content, will players find any new PvP content in this
new update? Any new additions to the fortress battles or castle sieges?
Coliseum is a new way to test your PvP skills against another group of
players in a fun new environment. Matches can be started in
various different level ranges. There are some minor tweaks
to how fortresses and castle sieges will work, but no major game play
changes. An example of a minor tweak is that only clans of
level 5 and above can now register for a castle siege.
Ten Ton Hammer: From a
player perspective, is there anything in the latest expansion that has
been added that players have been requesting for some time?
biggest thing players have been requesting that they’ll find
in the update are the changes and enhancements to the subclass
system. In this update sub classes will provide benefits to a
character’s main class. This will effectively
remove the independence between a player’s main class and
subclass, and increase a character’s playability and overall
strength. Another added benefit, along the same lines, is a
high level class-specific transformation that is available to a
player’s main class when they have sufficiently leveled up
their subclass.
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The Fantasy Isle is
really "just for fun."
Ten Ton Hammer: The
latest set of items – the S80 gear – is going to be
added to the item mix. How devastating will these new weapons be? Will
they overpower everything else available?
extremely important in Lineage
II, and the latest S80 gear is the pinnacle of what can be
currently obtained. You will definitely notice a difference
between these and any other equipment.
Ten Ton Hammer: Is there
anything else you can tell us about
style="font-style: italic;">Lineage II: Hellbound?
content update, we have a couple of exciting promotions.
I’m happy to announce that there is a brand new European
server available – Luna. I hope that players will
pass the word on to their friends and come check out Lineage II if they
haven’t before. We even have a new retail box in
stores (starting now!) called the 4th Anniversary Edition. This comes
with exclusive in-game items and a ton of game time, so definitely href="http://www.lineage2.com/four_year_anniv.html">go check
that out!
bring back a friend program. If a player refers a previous
player and they reactivate for at least 30 days, they both will receive
some game time. It’s a great time to check out the
game if you haven’t seen it in a while.
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Lineage II Game Page.
