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Perfect World International (PWI) is Beijing Perfect World’s Western localization of their sensational hit game Perfect World. Ten Ton Hammer’s Danny “Ralsu” Gourley gave it a go back in September and was pleased with the effort put into delivering a polished title that catered to its Western audience. Among the laudable features of PWI is what has to be the most in-depth character creation process available among free-to-play (F2P) games. The graphics also stand out as being above average, and the fans are almost religiously loyal.

Another great feature of PWI is the many ways to get the client. Gamers can use the traditional download method direct from the official website or from a number of mirrors, but the client is very beefy, weighing in at over 2GB. For that reason, Beijing Perfect World offers a mail order DVD that only costs shipping charges. It’s a unique distribution tactic for F2P titles, one Ralsu praised in “Distributive Properties.”

The last time Ralsu had a chance to chat with Jonathon Belliss, PWI’s product manager, he asked about the localization efforts and got some unique insight into the pressures F2P developers face that may result in reduced quality. When he talked to Belliss this time, Ralsu focused on the first expansion for PWI, The Lost Empire, which released on December 3, 2008.

Ten Ton Hammer: Most F2P games might occasionally provide a free content update, but The Lost Empire is a full-blown expansion. Talk about the difference between a content update and an expansion and why PWI needs an expansion.

Jonathon Belliss: A content update is something that happens almost every week for us.  A content update could be localization changes, a new quest here and there, or perhaps a seasonal event being added to the game for a period of time.  An expansion is a complete set of new content, monsters, zones, gear, and even game mechanics.  I don’t like the sound of saying that Perfect World International (PWI) “needs” an expansion.  I can however say that every MMORPG can always use more content, which our developers have been generous enough to provide us with.

Ten Ton Hammer: Is The Lost Empire free? Can players order a disc for it from the website just as they can with PWI?

Belliss: The Lost Empire is definitely free and players can order a new client if they have an internet connection that is lacking in speed.  Over the past several months we have been slowly pre-loading the expansion chunk by chunk in order to decrease the overall size of the actual expansion’s release on its launch day.

Ten Ton Hammer: We already know one new device discovered is the Chrono Wheel, which allows time travel. Can our actions in the past change the present?

Belliss: Players’ actions in the past will not affect the present day world in PWI.  This new feature will allow players to get a better feel and understanding of the greater story at play.  Players can gain access to key moments in Perfect World’s history and learn more about the events that shaped the world into its current state.

Ten Ton Hammer: Give us a hint about the other secrets we’ll learn from the empire that disappeared over one thousand years ago.

Belliss: Players will learn more about how Heaven’s Tear became the way it is today.  Players will also discover new ancient weapon recipes that can be completed through the gathering of items in both the existing world and the new areas.

Ten Ton Hammer: When looking at the new skills revealed for The Lost Empire, I notice the pattern of subtle power. That is, the spells aren’t flashy by description, but it’s easy to see that Myriad Rainbow (the new Venomancer spell that can cause multiple status effects to a target) or Violent Triumph (the new Barbarian skill that grants temporary immunity against several debuffs) will make our characters much more powerful. Are most of the spells in the expansion be like this, or will we see some powerful direct damage skills, too.

Belliss: There is a wide variety of new skills available to players of all classes.  There are some new skills that are direct damage abilities as well as utility skills such as Violent Triumph.  Overall the skills have been designed to accent each class’s strengths and in some cases address their weaknesses.

Ten Ton Hammer: We’ve also learned that The Lost Empire introduces some new pets. Can you tell us about them?

Belliss: The Lost Empire introduces battle pets into the game.  These are extremely rare pets that can only be tamed by the Venomancer class.  It’s needless to say that these pets are extremely strong and unique.  Venomancers of all levels covet these pets, as they add more depth to an already complex class.

Ten Ton Hammer: Clearly, many of the quests in the expansion center on the Chrono Wheel and unraveling the mysteries of the empire that fell long ago. Do these quests include raid encounters?

Belliss: There are a series of new bosses in-game that can be classified as “raid encounters”.  These bosses can be found both in the original Perfect World areas as well as the new expansion zones.  Needless to say that these creatures will put up more than a decent fight, and will provide many challenges even for existing veteran PWI players.

Ten Ton Hammer: What about low level characters? Do they get any new quests that relate to the discoveries going on in the world around them?

Belliss: We actually released a new quest concurrently with the expansion for low level players in order to help them progress through some of the harder stages of Perfect World International.  We also will be launching an Increased Experience Event in order to drive more players to the new higher level content featured in the expansion.

Ten Ton Hammer: PWI has one of the finest character customization systems available. What will the expansion add in the way of fashions and options to make us look unique and powerful?

Belliss: We recently had a Character Creation Contest in which we invited players to create custom characters and reward those who created outstanding designs.  We actually will be adding more than 100 new character presets to the game in mid-December, all been designed by our users.  Of course, new fashions and mounts are being released as time goes by.

Ten Ton Hammer: What else should gamers know about The Lost Empire?

Belliss: The Lost Empire [released] on December 3rd.  Once again its 100% Free to Play with no subscription and no credit card required.  You really have nothing to lose but a few minutes of your time by trying it out.  I guarantee that PWI will impress you in one way or another.