Questions by Onrpg.com Senior Editor Brian Perry Jr.
Answers by Dave Clarke, Producer, VestGame Entertainment
Onrpg: What is the setting for World of Kung Fu?
The World of Kung Fu is set in a fantasy world based on ancient Chinese myths and legends, where players can join their own schools and countries to help create a “Wulin”, or traditional Chinese Kung Fu society. The graphic environments were inspired by some famous Chinese landscape paintings, and I think that’s reflected in a lot of the game’s locations.
Onrpg: How is World of Kung Fu unique from other martial arts MMOs released lately?
One of the first things you notice is that it’s a graphically well designed game. It looks more like a game you would buy than a standard free-to-play game. That’s the first thing. Second, we’ve really been trying to focus on customer support. We have live, in game GMs available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The GMs are part of the game and the game community, and we run events on a daily basis to help keep everything interesting and strengthen the community. We also have a staff of Game Sages, who are dedicated players that volunteer to help in the game. They’re awesome, and do a fantastic job. Also, we have a lot of features coming out soon that will help WoKF stand out from the crowd. Players will be able to become the King of a country in the game and lead their country into battle. The King can also bestow blessings on his/her citizens, like bonus experience and special buffs. We are also adding in a system where players can have children that become playable characters, as well as being able to have your own personal style of Kung Fu that you can teach others in your school.
Onrpg: Can you explain the various classes in a more condensed version than is available on the website?
Sure! Well, there are nine classes in the game, based on the fighting styles of using certain weapons. The weapons are Fan, Hooks, Hammers & Axes, Swords, Broadswords, Bows, Spears, Staves, and Fist. I guess the best way to sum these up might be to compare them to other classes players are familiar with. Fan users are the healers in the game, like a priest class. Spears and Staves are the warrior/tanks, where Spears are more damage and staves are more defensive.
Hammer/Axe are damage dealers. Lots of damage, but medium defense. Broadswords are the rogues of the game, while Bows are kind of a cross between archers and mages. The Sword is a nicely rounded out general type of fighter, probably closest to a Paladin in other games. Hooks are a strange class, but the closest I can think of would be to say that they are like a Shaman… a little of everything. The Fist class is difficult to place, because it’s played kind of like a warrior/rogue, but it’s really its own class. We will be implementing a system in the game that allows players to have children, and these children can “inherit” abilities from their parents, so it will be possible to make a “custom” class in the future.
Onrpg: How big of an impact do the various tradeskills have on the game?
Quite a bit actually. You can forge your armor and weapons to give specific bonuses to your character, and most of the items required for forging require you to have certain items that you’ll need to make. Every type of forging, refining or processing in the game gives you reputation which can help increase your abilities and give you access to really great items. So the higher your level in the tradeskills, the better the types of gear you can make, use, or sell.
One of the largest concerns for most games is the “grind”; some games require way too much time to level and others nowhere near enough. What has the feedback been from players and staff alike so far?
At lower levels, the grind is pretty quick in this game, but as you get higher, we’ve had some reports from players that it’s a bit too much. We’re adding in some new content in upcoming patches to give more quests and other options to help reduce this. We’re trying to reach a happy medium here. One cool thing in WoKF are items called “Duplicate Tokens” which drop off monsters everywhere. They let you repeat quests multiple times, and if used properly, they can really help you to level up with much less grind. Our GMs also run many events daily and a lot of these offer double or more experience. Like I said, we’re still trying to find a nice middle ground so that everyone is happy!
Onrpg: What are the bosses in World of Kung Fu like, and do they hold up to the truly epic battles that require many players to fight or are they something that 1 person can handle?
Well, that depends on the battle. There are some lower level bosses that one player can handle by themselves, but for the higher level bosses, it’s a good idea to have a group. A lot of instances in World of Kung Fu require you to be in a group to help promote the team play aspect of the game. Most of the bosses are based on characters and supernatural creatures from Chinese mythology, and some of them are HARD.
Onrpg: Is the game still in open beta or have you actually launched the title?
We’re still running in Open Beta right now, and we will be doing a full launch after the localized US version is caught up to the Chinese version, which will hopefully be soon!
Onrpg: How often do you anticipate adding in new content?
We are trying to get big updates out every 2 months, but because we’re localizing the game from Mandarin Chinese, it can take a little longer. We’re working on a schedule now with the Chinese team to try and get them out faster! There’s a lot of great content coming up, and we’re anxious to get it to the players!
Onrpg: What are your views on Real Money Transactions, and do you anticipate implementing something similar to what two companies (PlaySpan and LiveGamer) have announced?
I’m not a big fan of RMTs, namely because if you introduce the opportunity for creating actual money from virtual items, games have a tendency to become filled with people looking to earn an income. From my experience, playing a game with friends and people who enjoy a game is much more fun than trying to play in a virtual world filled with people trying to reach a sales quota. But since these transactions are going to happen no matter what, I would rather see a legitimate system in place that is sanctioned by the developer/publisher than on a shady internet website, simply so that players don’t get ripped off. Honestly, I don’t particularly care for these systems, because I think that basically adding an “ebay” into a game is going to increase the number of “gold farmers”, not reduce it. We currently have no plans to use a system like this.
Onrpg: What is your favorite class to play and why?
I personally like Broadsword and Fist, namely because they fit with my preferred style of play. I like the Broadsword because it’s similar to the rogue style of play in other MMOs, a lot of sneaking up and attacking from behind… And I like the Fist style, because it uses a lot of powerful attacks. While it’s one of the harder classes to learn to use effectively, if you do learn it, it can be devastating at higher levels. Also, it’s great for PvP. Both of those classes mix well with the Hidden Weapons in the game. All the classes are good, but those are my favorites.
