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TTH: Is there a way to describe the “new player experience” in Fury? There’s a lot of focus on this in the industry now, and we really don’t know much about how new players will experience Fury.

Hampden: We experimented with a few different options during the development of Fury. Due to the unique nature of our game we’ve decided the best way to introduce the player to Fury is through a tutorial. This tutorial will teach you the basics of combat in Fury as well as setting you up in a match against other players who are just starting out.

TTH: As players progress through the game, they will have the option to buy new armor or weapons, correct? How often will players encounter loot and treasure in the battles? What contributes to players getting the “ph4t” loot? Will the players with the most kills get the most loot?

Another version of the Fury logo.

Hampden: Players will almost always encounter loot during battles. Loot is determined by what type of enemy player you happen to dispatch. If they are a support character wearing Leather gear then there’s a chance some leather gear will be added to your team’s loot coffer. But remember, you aren’t actually looting your opponents possessions, the system merely takes into account what type of character they are when determining what loot to “drop”. Ph4t loot can be gotten by defeating players of the highest ranks, and with a degree of luck. At the end of battle, players roll on items in their team’s loot coffer, and yes, battle-field proficiency will have an effect on the chance of winning a loot roll – but that doesn’t mean simply killing. Best healing, support, defense, etc. will share the same bonuses.

TTH: Will “Fury” Essence work the same way? Or is this distributed evenly?

Hampden: Being proficient in battle will similarly affect the amount of Essence you can earn, though you will also get a bonus to the amount of Essence earned if your team wins the battle.

TTH: How many weapons/armors will there be in Fury? Are they as important as a player’s abilities in the actual PvP arena?

Hampden: Most of the weapons and armor in Fury is generated, which allows for almost countless possibilities when it comes to variety. As far as “epic” sets and factional equipment goes, we’ll have that too. Weapons and armor will be important in combat (especially after you reach high-ranks) but we don’t think gear should win the day. A player with better gaming skill should be able to beat an opponent with better equipment.

TTH: Let’s talk about Ranks. What incentive do players have to increase their rank, other than to gain more equip points and vie for a more competitive spot? Could a player stay Rank 1 for his entire career if he chooses not to pursue Trials?

There are many different venues for characters to fight in.

Hampden: Higher-level equipment requires higher ranks, so this would be one major incentive to ranking up. Yes, you could stay Rank 1 your entire career but you aren’t prevented from swapping up and down between ranks so we really don’t know why anyone would ever do that. It is important to note that you can’t really stick around at Rank 1 to try to kill noobs, you will instead be matched against other highly experienced players who prefer the challenge of a low-rank experience (thanks to our matchmaking system that pits players of like-skills and experience against each other).

TTH: Is being a higher rank necessary to use some of the more powerful spells, abilities, weapons, and armor in the game?

Hampden: Yes and no. As far as abilities (we call all spells, skills, etc. abilities) go, you can use them at any Rank, but you’ll also need the equipment points required to use them, so yes it’s possible to equip a Rank 1 character with one or two high-level abilities, but it would be very difficult to be effective with this approach.

TTH: When a character gains a rank, is there any sort of physical manifestation of his advanced status? Or do his statistics increase? I’m not sure if there are statistics in the game, but I was just wondering if anything changed other than his equip points?

Hampden: There is no real physical evidence, beyond being able to equip higher level gear (which looks incredible, by the way). And no, there are no rank-dependant statistics in Fury, (other than equip-points).