'Ten Questions' Forum Interview

1) Zen Metheus: The question of balancing is a hot topic amongst members of the PVKII community, Beta 1.0/1.1 was controversial because of the decision to give the Heavy Knight the crossbow and to disable the skirmisher's keg dropping ability (1.1). While such things are unavoidable at this stage of development are there any balance issues PVKII fans should be weary of in the next release?

Crazytalk: Although we haven't had any balancing sessions yet I don't foresee any trouble balancing the game out with these classes more than the first release.

2) Zen Metheus: In the preview video for the new combat system there was a 'power bar' that indicated the strength of the attack should the player release the attack button - will this be a feature players can enable without activating cheats? If so how may it be done?

Crazytalk: This will be a feature all players and weapons will automatically have enabled.

3) Zen Metheus: The PVKII team seem to be committed to delivering large, thoroughly crafted and infrequent updates. Should we be accepting this as a matter of policy or after this update could we be seeing in the future more frequent but minor updates like a small balance update, a stability update, a new level update, a single new class update, a bot update etc..?

Crazytalk: Random large updates has always been our way of doing things, for no specific reason. But for the most part we just release news when we're ready and feel we have enough to show. The best bet is usually keeping an eye on the forums in the team journal section.

4) Zen Metheus: Some maps at present have massive balance issues - pvk_desertruin for example where vikings, because they are lacking both a ranged or explosive weapon, have greater difficulty taking the tower from a crowd of three pirates or knights. In the patch the ranged abilities of the pirates and the knights will be increased but the vikings will still be missing their main ranged class - are there any plans to address this by perhaps giving the Berserker viking temporary use of a couple of javelins/throwing axes?

Crazytalk: We have been discussing the berserker class having a third weapon possibly of ranged style. The Huscarl will have throwing axes and a shield which should help quite a bit in defense and offense.

5) Zen Metheus: Sorry if this question has already been asked, but how will the Huscarl's axe differ from the Berserker's axe?

Crazytalk: The Berserker's will be a larger and more powerful weapon, whereas the huscarls will be faster but less powerful.

6) Zen Metheus: Will the Heavy Knight be equiped with his flail in the next release? If not will he still have the crossbow or will he have another weapon altogether?

Crazytalk: Expect the flail

7) IZen Metheus: n PVK the pirate captain could 'recover' his dead parrot by selecting the hook and clicking attack repeatedly - will this feature be in PVKII?

Crazytalk: I believe this was a bug in the original, haven't considered the possibility of doing this yet.

8) Zen Metheus: The Skirmisher Special is notorious for getting 'stuck' on random objects - will there be any changes in the next version to improve the Skirmisher's special?

Crazytalk: It may be looked into, but as of right now the new classes come first.

9) Zen Metheus: Many people have speculated as to how the armour works in PVKII, will the new patch feature any changes to the existing system? If so what will be changing?

Crazytalk: Eventually armor will coincide with various weapon types, but for now no changes have been planned.

10) Zen Metheus: This is more of a request than a question: Is it possible to change the onscreen death notices to indicate if a person was killed by a normal move or a special move? Like showing a green cutlas if the deceased was killed by the skirmisher's special? Also if someone gets killed by the pirate captain's hook will there be a "HUMILIATION" sound bite?

Crazytalk: I imagine this is possible but may not be in this next patch "*Sqwuak*Any port in the storm*Squawk*"

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1) Number Nine: What would be the "use" for the HK's flail, now that all weapons have the power meter?

Crazytalk: I'm not sure I understand why the flail would be deemed useless. The difficulty of the flail comes with timing the swing in a sense that if you let go of attack as it starts the swing rotation, it'll take a second to complete the rotation and bash the player's skull in, of course a successful hit will have its rewards.

2) Number Nine: What have you though of when it comes to movement with the bow?

Crazytalk: When it comes to movement with the bow, accuracy and speed will come into play when the bow is drawn

3) Number Nine: What will the Capitan get to compensate for not having his instrument?

Crazytalk: The Captain will be fully functional without his instrument, the instrument itself will be an addition to game play when more content is added. He will still have his cutlass, parrot and Blunderbuss.

4) Number Nine: What exactly do you mean when the Huscarl's axe is weaker than the Berzerker? Don't turn the viking heavy class into a sissy . Crazytalk: Consider the berserker the Viking's heavy class and the Huscarl as a sort of shield class. A possibility has been mentioned of including the shield in the Huscarl's throwing axes.

5) Number Nine: When will we get the maps that were started on a looooong time ago, pre-1.0. I remember clouds, sailaway, catacombs, and a few from the trailer that I don't recognize.

Crazytalk: Clouds development has been halted due to other activities but is expected to resume soon, sailaway is still a complicated work in progress which has also been delayed for certain real life reasons and the mapper who started on catacombs disappeared which is why there's no mention of it anywhere on the current site (and if there is it's by accident).

As for the acrobatic classes holding onto walls, they're still in the distant future and will be dealt with when the time is right.