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As talked about in a recent MMORPGamer Column, K2 Networks' Free2Play MMORPG Red Stone has been added to the World Cyber Games, a worldwide competitive gaming competition. For more details on this and the state of Red Stone, we recently talked with Brian Konar, Lead Operations Manager for Red Stone.
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Could you talk a little bit about Red Stone as an introduction for our readers who may not be as familiar with the game?
Red Stone is a story driven and fantasy based MMO set in the world of Prandel. As players progress through the game, they will uncover rumors of the Red Stone and ultimately discover the truth behind its disappearance. On the course of their journey players will encounter angels & demons as well as a host of other fantastic creatures.
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What do you feel, specifically, sets Red Stone apart from other MMOs on the market today?
The Red Stone story line is absolutely fantastic and really sets Red Stone apart from other MMOs currently on the market. Rather than advance your character through continual gear and skill upgrades, players are set on a path to further discover the whereabouts of the Red Stone and what really happened when it was cast from the Heavens. Improving your character occurs as a result of your progress, giving you a purpose in this massive world aside from the standard “reach maximum level and ‘WTFPWN’ noobs”.
Another key difference from your standard MMO is Red Stone’s Transformation System. In your typical MMO, each player has one role (tank, dps, healer, etc.) and they don’t offer much else. In Red Stone, each player has dual roles that they can switch between on the fly. For example, the Magician is a very strong magical damage dealer, with weak physical defenses. This can pose a problem when fighting physical damage based enemies or even enemies that are highly resistant to magical damage. To counter this weakness, the Magician is able to turn into a Werewolf, exponentially enhancing their physical combat prowess and giving them a whole host of new skills to call upon.
One other difference I’d like to touch on is Red Stone’s visual style. A lot of our players like to compare Red Stone’s visuals to an enhanced version of the classic Diablo, and I can certainly see the connection, but I personally feel its visual style is very distinct. With a solid anime look and significant Asian influence, Red Stone really stands strong amongst the competition.
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How was Red Stone chosen to be part of the World Cyber Games?
Samsung is a worldwide publisher of Red Stone, and as a worldwide partner of the WCG it was a natural fit. Being a part of the World Cyber Games is a great honor to us and we’re really excited to be working together with Samsung on the WCG.
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Please tell us a little bit about the PvP combat of Red Stone that will be featured in the WCG.
Red Stone will be hosting a 2v2 arena style tournament at the WCG. It will be very strategic combat as each player will need to outfit his character appropriately and distribute their skills & stat points prior to the match, without any knowledge of what opponents/composition they will be facing. Do you focus on magical resistance to counter a magic based opponent or do you favor physical mitigation to survive that rampaging warrior? There are many various effective builds for each class, so players will need to find a balance against all comers to ensure their success.
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What are you expecting to see in the WCG tournament based on current game trends? Are you expecting certain classes to be more popular than others?
Based on the 2v2 tournament style, the mage class will likely be very popular. With the ability to dish out devastating magical attacks, cast potent controlling spells and heal themselves as well as teammates, they will be a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.
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How do you feel about the current PvP balance of Red Stone? Do you see the WCG tournament as an opportunity to see that balance tested by high-level players?
Every class has its strengths and weaknesses. It really comes down to the player and their style, as well as how they build their character. Every class has the ability to transform into another class with a set of complementary skills (for example a close combat powerhouse like the Warrior can transform into a rock solid tank, the Squire, if the player builds his character appropriately) but it is up to the player to take advantage of that. It is also up to the opponent to exploit any weaknesses they can find. The PvP balance is pretty solid currently, and I look forward to seeing what tricks, tactics & counters players have up their sleeves when they enter the field of battle.
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How many people are you expecting to sign up for the WCG tournament? Is there a limit? What date do you need to sign up by?
Our players have been requesting a feature similar to this tournament for quite awhile now, so I expect it to be pretty popular. There is no limit on participants for the qualifying tournament, but all players will be required to register their two person teams for the tournament by August 22nd. To register, players will need to first create an account at playredstone.com and then register their teams with the WCG at us.worldcybergames.com.
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Do players who wish to enter into the WCG tournament need to be playing Red Stone already, or can newcomers also join? Will they be using already established characters, or will they be creating new characters on a tournament server?
The great thing about the Red Stone tournament is that it is open to all players. Even if you’ve never heard of Red Stone before now, you can access our PvP server and begin training, so new players are both welcomed and encouraged to try it out. There will be a dedicated tournament server where players will create new characters. All characters created on this server will automatically begin at level 300, and will have class specific vendor NPC’s that will distribute equipment to them. Players will also be able to freely reset their Skill & Stat points, allowing them to try a variety of different builds and equipment selections to really fine tune their character(s).
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Will there be any opportunity for other players to view the tournament matches either while in progress or afterwards?
For the preliminary matches we unfortunately won’t be able to offer players an option to view those battles in progress however at the National and Grand Final levels we hope to be able to offer videos of those matches for players to view afterwards.
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Finally, given the greater exposure for Red Stone now that it's in the WCG, where do you see Red Stone going and growing in the future?
It’s a great honor for Red Stone to have been selected for the WCG and we’re really excited to participate. With the increase in exposure generated by the WCG, Red Stone will continue to build on its current success with an influx of new users eager to try something different.
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RPGamer would like to thank all those at K2 Network who made this interview possible. Red Stone can be downloaded for free at the Official Site.
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