1. Please introduce yourself and describe your position at Outspark.
My name is Ben Berens, and I’m the Associate Product Manager for Erebus: Travia Reborn.
2. Please tell us about Erebus: Travia Reborn.
Erebus: Travia Reborn is a classic dungeon crawler with the best parts of an MMO combined with lots of action. It is an MMO Action-RPG. The game has Instance dungeons, a pervasive world, non-stop fighting, and of course, PvE and lots of PvP gameplay!
3. Has Erebus been released elsewhere? If so, when and where and how successful has it been?
Erebus is based on the big Korean hit Travia. Erebus retains some of the same types of gameplay, but otherwise has been rebuilt from the ground up for Western audiences. The game features a new story, new quests, lots more dungeons and enemies, new PvP and PvE systems, new skills, rebalanced classes, updated classes, and lots more.
Essentially, it is a totally new game, and anyone who played Travia a few years ago will be thoroughly pleased with all the improvements.
4. What is the back story for Erebus?
Erebus, the god of Chaos, wants to lay waste to the land of Travia. Eons ago, Erebus tried to destroy the entire world, but was defeated by an alliance of races and banished to the underworld. But now Travia is filled with strife and there is strife between the humans and elves that rule the land. As Travia is poised on the brink of war, Chaos will rear its ugly head again. The heroes of Erebus: Travia Reborn must join forces to fight evil, or battle their foes to dominate the lands. Chaos is coming…
5. There are lots of new MMOs on the market today. What sets Erebus apart from the rest?
It has a number of features that help set it apart from other MMOs. First and foremost, Erebus is completely free-to-play. It is a throwback to classic PC dungeon crawlers, and has lots of fun hack ‘n’ slash action, but with lots of multiplayer PvE and PvP gameplay. Erebus also has an original storyline that will make for a really engaging experience for players.
6. Walk us through character creation. How customized can players make their ‘toons?
Players are able to choose between the 4 main archetypes that we have. Most of the customization is actually in the game where players are quickly able to choose between a large array of items available to them and upgrade them to create their own unique heroes.
7. What classes and races are included in Erebus?
You can currently play as either a human or an elf. All told, there are 4 starting classes (Warrior, Mage, Archer, and Cleric) and many more advanced classes players can progress to. There are numerous other races in the game that you either interact with – or, uh, kill. We definitely want to bring more classes into the game in the future, too.
8. How does the level up system work?
We have a standard leveling system, but a lot of work has been done to be sure that the curve is brought down to North American standards. When analyzing the leveling system and experience curve, we took every chance that we could to ease the grind that a lot of players feel when reaching the higher levels in MMOs.
9. Will Erebus be free to play?
Erebus is completely free-to-play; all of Outspark’s games are free-to-play. You can enjoy the entire game and find almost every weapon and item through quests and loot drops. We spend a lot of time balancing the gameplay so that people who pay won’t upset the balance of people who don’t. Of course, some really cool costumes and vanity items are only available if you visit the cash shop!
10. Will there be an item mall? If so, what types of items will be included?
Like other F2P games, our item mall will feature mainly vanity items and consumable items. We take great care in making sure that everyone can enjoy the game, whether they visit the item mall or not!
11. What is your favorite area of the game and why?
Dark Forest is probably one of my favorite areas just because of the art and darker feel to it without being the outright Skeletons that are in Balmore Dungeon. I think a lot of the forest maps that are in the game really pull you into the story, and I think players will agree when they experience them.
12. What about PvP?
We have lots of different options for those that are interested in PvP. We have an open world PK system where players are able to engage in combat with anybody at any time. Guild vs guild is also available through our village owning system and possible on a multi guild level in the future. We also have faction vs faction where even lower level players can contribute to the success of their side, as well as the standard duels available in our battle arena.
13. Will Erebus feature competitions and tournaments?
Definitely. We are even putting together some tournaments for our Closed Beta players at the moment. As the game is very PvP oriented, Guilds will be able to enter into a competition as a whole as well and win cool prizes to share.
14. Is there a guild system in place?
Yes, we have a guild system that allows groups of friends to band together and even take over a town if they are strong enough. We are definitely looking at expanding the system further in the future with more massive multi guild wars as well.
15. Are there mounts in game? What sorts?
Yes, there are currently a number of horse mounts in the game, but the developer is working to bring even more to add variety for the players and get some of the more elite looking rides for high level players.
16. Where can players go to get signed up?
17. How soon after the April 14th beta starts will the game go into ‘retail’ release?
We are still looking at going into a Open Beta phase before we actually shift into a full “retail” release, and it will really be dictated more by the feedback from the community and what they feel needs to be changed for this to be the best game for them.
18. What are the system specifications to play the game?
Pentium III 600 Mhz
128MB RAM
GeForce 32MB
DirectX 8.1 Compatible
HDD 500MB
19. How large is the client download?
The Beta client is coming in around 200MB, but we figure the whole game will be around 400MB.
WarCry thanks Ben and the Outspark team for taking the time to fill us in on Erebus!
