12 Questions and Answers about Flyff v13.
Posted on July 14, 2009 by Mytey
FlyFF is one of the veterans of the free MMO world, having stood the test of time. With FlyFF Version 13 just released, RezPLS wanted to know just how well things were going over at the home of one of our favorite games. Assistant Producer John Hockaday (aka Cromiell) talks us through the latest update, and offers insights on in-game marriage, gold sellers, and more!
Please introduce yourself to our readers, and may we ask what is your role with concern to Flyff?
You certainly may! My name is Jon Hockaday and I’m the Assistant Producer for FlyFF. Folks in-game and on the forums know me as Cromiell. I joined the FlyFF Team and Gala-Net last year.
We are excited to see the long anticipated version 13 of Flyff. Do you feel it is being received well?
I’m glad to hear it. It’s hard to put into words how excited we are that Version 13 has finally been released. V13 has offered more ways for players to interact with one another, more goals to strive for, and some very interesting game play elements. So far, we feel it has been received extremely well.
Is it attracting more new users?
There has been a large influx of new players since the update was released and we are very pleased about that. We’ve also seen a resurgence of old players returning as well to experience the changes for themselves. It’s been awesome seeing old faces and new ones alike!
What are some of the difficulties you face in introducing new content?
Often times, introducing new content requires a lot of testing. However, with MMO’s, it’s virtually impossible to catch everything. This is why we ran a beta test for V13 and copied characters from the live servers over to the test server to give V13 some “real world” testing. The option to copy characters is something we’ve not really provided specifically in the past and it was really nice to be able to do that for our players. (And the beta was a blast to boot!)
Many of the difficulties in releasing new content is the sheer amount of work and interdepartmental cooperation involved in making it all happen. There is an army of people involved in developing, testing, publishing, marketing, updating, and implementing new content for a given game. Having all of those elements work in tandem can be quite the juggling act.
Being fans of the game ourselves, we were pleased to see the main draw of the game – flying – being expanded upon. Are you seeing big sign-ups for the Rainbow Race?
Yes, absolutely. The Rainbow Race has been a pretty big hit so far. The great thing about it is that virtually anyone can participate and in order to win, or even place in the top 10, isn’t solely based on how fast you can fly. Luck and skill are elements as well. The other great thing about the Rainbow Race, is that it’s static, scripted content that’s unlike any other system in the game. It introduces a new element of game play and opens the door for more systems of its type to be implemented in the future.
Flyff has in many ways been a leader in the free MMO industry, but the most recent changes show a willingness to embrace aspects already featured in other games. Tell us a bit about your intent in creating the housing and couple systems.
The Housing and Couple Systems are designed to give players more options and rewards when interacting with one another. The social aspect of FlyFF is one of the biggest draws. Expanding on that aspect allows players to really experience the most important feature of the game, the community. This was the main driving force in creating these systems, to enhance the community aspect of the game while combining new and interesting content that’s functionally useful to every player.
Many games implement player-owned or guild housing in order to offer players a piece of the world they can own, or a place they can go to ‘get away from it all’. Is this also how Flyff wanted to approach the idea?
Partially, yes. The Housing System also grants players the ability to further customize their characters by allowing them to increase character stats with furniture items. This adds yet another level of depth to an already complex character customization system. The other great thing about the Housing System is that it allows players a private place to hold a guild meeting, or make private trades away from all the hustle and bustle of busy cities like Flarine. Plus, let’s be honest, decorating your pad is super fun.
We hear couples in-game will receive greater benefits the longer they stay together. This is quite an interesting social statement being made!
Haha! I see where you’re going with that. Social statements aside, the Couple System is designed around an aspect of FlyFF that already existed. Many players tend to want to level with their friends and so forth, so it seemed logical to provide a rewards system for this since it is already a very prevalent activity. Not to mention, one of the great things about FlyFF is that we have a lot of “real life” couples who consistently enjoy the game together. We like to think that the Couple System provides players with all of the rewarding aspects of a relationship, without all the bad stuff. You know, like divorce court, mother-in-laws, and alimony?
On a more serious note, every MMO currently has to regularly deal with both hacking and currency selling spam. How is Flyff approaching these issues, both in-game and out?
You’re right, most if not all MMO’s deal with these issues constantly. It’s the nature of the beast, unfortunately. We’ve recently taken steps to increase our security and gone even further to protect our players. Security is of the utmost importance when it comes to massive online gaming and we are taking it very seriously.
“Gold Selling Spammers” are a different beast altogether. We have systems in place that make it more difficult for them to create accounts and log in to the game. This alone has helped decrease the sheer number of spammers logged in to our servers. We are hoping to make some actual in-game changes to provide more hurdles for these little buggers to get through. Not to mention, we have a certain rogue Game Master who likes to move from server to server every day, killing penya spammers while sporting a creepy grin. I’m talking Hannibal Lecter creepy here. No joke.
Looking ahead to the future, does Flyff plan to offer more to the type of high-end gamers whose characters approach being maxed out? Will there be an increased level cap, or perhaps additional job classes?
Without giving too much away, I will say that yes, work is already underway to flesh out the end-game experience, introduce more high-level content, and add more complexity and customization to all of the job classes at higher levels. I can’t go into too much detail about it right now, but it is certainly on the radar. Elements of these enhancements will be seen as soon as V14 and V15.
*scurries off*
We know it’s soon, but we just have to ask! Can you give us any insights into what might be planned for the next Flyff updates?
While I would love to spoil it, I’m afraid I can’t go into detail just yet. However, what I can say is that most if not all of the aspects of the game will be touched on in the next couple of updates. The update schedule for V14 and V15 are both ambitious and aggressive. We’re very excited about the upcoming changes, and we know the community is going to love them too. You’ll just have to stay tuned for more info! Don’t touch that dial!
Final question, we always like to ask, what game (of any make/model) gets played the most at your office?
Street Fighter 4 hands down. Some of the folks here have a serious addiction to that game, especially some of the FlyFF Game Masters *ahem*. We are considering seeking medical help for them. I have *actually* seen some of them twitching, watching the clock, foaming at the mouth, just waiting for their shifts to be over so they can dart into the lounge and fire it up. It’s actually kind of funny
Thank you for your time 
