Dofus Interview
Questions by Brian Perry Jr
Answered by Dofus
OnRPG: Dofus has been around quite a while and is continuing to be a hit. What do you attribute this to?
DOFUS has been very popular for several reasons. First of all, the DOFUS universe, inspired by mangas and comics, is echoing this culture that is very popular around teenagers and young adults. Unlike other MMORPGS, DOFUS is colorful, with its own humor (often cynical) and very easy to access (around 100Mo to download for free, Flash based). At the moment, it is the Online Game that must have the lowest hardware requirements as it can be played on old Operating Systems, and does not need a brand new computer with the latest graphic card or a broadband internet connection. It could be considered as a surprise, but DOFUS is also very popular among Mac and Linux users. Indeed, they are very few MMORPGs that are compatible with those systems, therefore those players are pleased to find a game with decent requirements and easy to access.
The frequent updates and expansions added to DOFUS, still for free, are also part of its success. We are always willing to add new contents and functionalities to the game that will enhance the immersion of our players.
OnRPG: You offer the game for free, but also have a subscription service. What are the differences, and why should someone pay when they can get it for free?
The free-to-play region is a chance for anyone to discover the game and some of its functionalities. With the recent expansion of Incarnam, a floating island where beginners can have fun and more advanced players cannot take advantage of them, newcomers can enjoy a big part of the DOFUS universe. If they decide to subscribe, for a very reasonable price, they will have access to the complete game, including all the jobs with no level caps, pets, mounts, the whole map accessible, the PvP system, and more functionalities. They can fight a huge choice of monsters, get new quests and have the chance to realize the ultimate challenge: gather the 6 Legendary Dragon Eggs: the Dofus.
OnRPG: There is a new installment of Dofus due out soon. Can you tell us more about this?
It will be the “Otomai’s Island”, a new tropical island to be added to the DOFUS World. On this Island, new dungeons will allow players to forget their spells, on get their characteristic points back by lowering their stats to 101 or 0. It will of course come with a lot of new monsters and a major change in the PvP system.
OnRPG: What changes can players expect in the new installment?
With the possibility of changing their stats, players will have the opportunity to try different buids on a same character, some class spell will also be changed to allow more various builds for each class.
Some other modifications will be made to give the class spell more interest in a fight, as most of the characters are now based on their close combat weapons and do not use their spells.
The new PvP system will make more zones available for conquest, and players will get higher ranks by participating to territories’ conquest or defence.
Of course, with new monsters, new items will be available and most of the sets that can only be found on monsters at the moment will get an associated reciepe, so that craftmen will be able to create them.
OnRPG: What is your favorite character to play in Dofus?
It is hard to choose but I, personally, play a Sram for I feel like it is the class that is the most tactical to play. But I also enjoy playing a Xelor or an Eniripsa. I have not yet had the time to try the different possibilities offered by the Pandawas but it seems to be a very interesting class as well.
I guess it is hard to say that you have a favorite class to play in DOFUS as it will really depend on your own personality and your style of gameplay. Every class has its own utility either against monsters or against other players, which is making every character build interesting.
OnRPG: How does Dofus Arena differ from Dofus?
Dofus-Arena is aimed at tactical fight lovers. The idea was to create a game, based on the DOFUS universe, using the turn-by-turn fighting system, where you can control a whole team with one account. In Dofus-Arena, only the best strategies will grant you the title of Champion, you will have to manage your team wisely to beat every opponent you will find. Unlike MMOs, there are no quests to complete, no monsters to fight, it is a pure PvP game.
OnRPG: Wakfu is a new game coming out from your company soon. According to the wonderfully done video on the website, it appears to be a sequel to Dofus. What can you tell us about this? (ignore this if it is the addon to dofus you mentioned in the email)
Wakfu (www.wakfu.com) is our future MMORPG, to be released in 2008. It is the sequel to DOFUS, taking place a thousand years after DOFUS. Ogrest the ogre has gathered the 6 Dofus and has brought devastation to the World.
Players will enter this universe where everything will have to be rebuilt by them. The character evolution system will also be different from DOFUS as there will not be based on character leveling but on spells leveling, i.e. the more a spell will be cast, the more it will be powerful (from level 1 to 100). The gameplay will be different from DOFUS as it will be in Java, their will be a unique map representing the whole huge island each community will settle on.
The Players will have to manage themselves and their environment, one of the biggest improvements being that there will be no NPCs in Wakfu and regular elections for the players to choose a Governor. The different monster species will migrate at certain times of the year, will escape zones where they are too hunted in order to survive, forests will change depending on how much wood will be cut by players, forcing the last to be responsible about how to manage properly the resources available on their island.
OnRPG: Are there any other projects your company is working on that you can share with us?
We are offering a range of products based on DOFUS at the moment: manga series, artbooks and several goodies. Those are made to show a different aspect of DOFUS as authors use their own graphic style to create new stories. With Wakfu we are reaching another level as a TV animated series will be produced, with links to the game, as well as a Wakfu game on the Nintendo DS. We really want to create a multi-support universe around our games, for our fans to be able to see the different aspects of their game.
