B* Ask Questions!

[Frenzyn]

I have asked Samhayne if he would ask a few questions for us, here is the response i got.

"Re: Question
Hey Frenzyn, sure matey, give it a go. I can't promise that I can answer any of them, but we can always give it a whack. I know the team has lots to talk about Blackstar, but they don't want to give too much away too soon..."

So, ask as many questions as you can, this might be your only chance to find out your wildest dreams about blackstar! He will get to your questions as fast as possible, aswell as mine. Just reply to the topic with some questions about it, he will answer them, Not all but most.

______________________________

[Frenzyn]

MY questions to samhayne:

1.How will players jump? (I ask this because i saw it in a 2007 beta) or was it removed?
2.Can you give me an approximate how many quests there are if quests are in game?
3.Is there towns or is it a freeroam?
4.WILL THERE BE VEHICLES?
5.Does walking speeds differ between classes OR heavy/smalll weapons?
6.Can you give me the name of atleast 2 monsters,rivals, or npcs in the game.
7.Why was it exactly called "Blact star"?


/Reserved for more questions

8. Can you give us the inside on the next town/area/place that will be made after released?
9. Will we be able to transfer platinum from PL to B*? Because i don't want to buy another 165 pack, when i still have 100+ on my pl acc.
10. will there be a tutorial for the game?
11. After B* is released, will u stop releasing updates for PL? I hope not xD

[Ellyidol]

Answered, good on ya Frenz

[Frenzyn]

/edit
Answered, good on ya Frenz

I asked JustG first, he told me to ask samhayne, he is an admin/community guy. he said it was ok.
Use it as your only opportunity!

[Ellyidol]

I asked JustG first, he told me to ask samhayne, he is an admin/community guy. he said it was ok.

Awesome Now I can ask away!

1. Is it possible to get a broad description of how gameplay would be like? Like put a game as an example, just like PL? - The question of how tanks are meant to tank in a game where all characters have guns as weapons still confuses me.

2. Will it be the usual, grind for xp, farm bosses for good gear kinda thing? Or would there be something new?

3. Is it still a casual MMO or a bit more hardcore?

4. Judging from how we've seen in PL on how fast we consume content, would it be safe to say that when it's released, we'd actually have a long way to go?

Thanks to whoever answers!

[Arterra]

Will there be the same ability to hybridize classes between each other and have them prove useful?

Are you keeping the 3D aspect, or sticking to PL like two dimensions of movement. ?

Any plans for innicial players bonuses?

[noneo]

MY questions to samhayne:

How will players jump? (I ask this because i saw it in a 2007 beta) or was it removed?
Can you give me an approximate how many quests there are if quests are in game?
Is there towns or is it a freeroam?
WILL THERE BE VEHICLES?
Does walking speeds differ between classes OR heavy/smalll weapons?
Can you give me the name of atleast 2 monsters,rivals, or npcs in the game.
Why was it exactly called "Blact star"?

I might be able to answer some of these questions just from reading/watching hands on previews.

How will players jump? (I ask this because i saw it in a 2007 beta) or was it removed?
We will most likely not be able to jump. Originally, this game was going to be released for a PC, but the PC project got dropped. So, they moved toward the handheld market (most likely because of the massive success of Pocket Legends). In that move, they adjusted, what seems to be, the entire game. For example, they reduced the quality of graphics to make it run smoother on a mobile. Looking at the UI of screenshots posted by various websites, I do not see any "jump" icon/button. This, along with its apparant similarities with PL, leads me to believe there will be no "Jump" feature, one of the many changes they made while switching to the handheld market.
Can you give me an approximate how many quests there are if quests are in game?
No idea on this one
Is there towns or is it a freeroam?
There is a screenshot of the "World Map" on many websites. This means there will be towns that you are able to "enter" to play the game.
WILL THERE BE VEHICLES?
Initially, for the PC version, they were going to release "space travel" along with ground combat. However for the handheld version, devs have noted that "Space will follow", which means, for now, we will only be able to have ground combat. With the removal of space travel, there is no need for vehicles. So to answer your question, no we will not have vehicles.
Does walking speeds differ between classes OR heavy/smalll weapons?
Not entirely sure on this one, but it is speculated that walking speeds will vary. Devs care to chime in on this one? It doesn't give any critical information away
Can you give me the name of atleast 2 monsters,rivals, or npcs in the game.
This one is for the devs.
Why was it exactly called "Blact star"?
I'm not sure where you got "Blact star", but rest assured it is "BLACKSTAR". You can see this in a large number of places, the Blackstar forum tab, the Blackstar website, any review that has been made on the game, and it has been refereed to as Blackstar or B* by the devs.

My biggest question is if we can get a SLIGHTLY more definite release date. I.e. in the month of June, or the month of May. That is all I request

[Frenzyn]

I might be able to answer some of these questions just from reading/watching hands on previews.

How will players jump? (I ask this because i saw it in a 2007 beta) or was it removed?
We will most likely not be able to jump. Originally, this game was going to be released for a PC, but the PC project got dropped. So, they moved toward the handheld market (most likely because of the massive success of Pocket Legends). In that move, they adjusted, what seems to be, the entire game. For example, they reduced the quality of graphics to make it run smoother on a mobile. Looking at the UI of screenshots posted by various websites, I do not see any "jump" icon/button. This, along with its apparant similarities with PL, leads me to believe there will be no "Jump" feature, one of the many changes they made while switching to the handheld market.
Can you give me an approximate how many quests there are if quests are in game?
No idea on this one
Is there towns or is it a freeroam?
There is a screenshot of the "World Map" on many websites. This means there will be towns that you are able to "enter" to play the game.
WILL THERE BE VEHICLES?
Initially, for the PC version, they were going to release "space travel" along with ground combat. However for the handheld version, devs have noted that "Space will follow", which means, for now, we will only be able to have ground combat. With the removal of space travel, there is no need for vehicles. So to answer your question, no we will not have vehicles.
Does walking speeds differ between classes OR heavy/smalll weapons?
Not entirely sure on this one, but it is speculated that walking speeds will vary. Devs care to chime in on this one? It doesn't give any critical information away
Can you give me the name of atleast 2 monsters,rivals, or npcs in the game.
This one is for the devs.
Why was it exactly called "Blact star"?
I'm not sure where you got "Blact star", but rest assured it is "BLACKSTAR". You can see this in a large number of places, the Blackstar forum tab, the Blackstar website, any review that has been made on the game, and it has been refereed to as Blackstar or B* by the devs.

My biggest question is if we can get a SLIGHTLY more definite release date. I.e. in the month of June, or the month of May. That is all I request

No offence, but i will leave my questions still up, because they have a chance some of your answers could be wrong, but thankyou, as most of them are probably correct.

Also vehicles could be controlled by a stop button, a go button and just tilting or scrolling the screen, so i don't know completely their capabilities.

[noneo]

sure thing! I wasnt telling you to remove your questions, I was simply explaining some things that have been broughy up in the past, or noted on other websites.

[Acyer]

My questions are:
What will be the lvl cap first?
Are guilds in the game at release?
Is there auction houses in game at release?
Are the classes mirror images of pocket legends if not how do they differ?
Will there be enough content at release to hold us hard core players?

[Zux]

Dev, dev on the wall, who's the prettiest of them all?

[Duke]

9. Will we be able to transfer platinum from PL to B*? Because i don't want to buy another 165 pack, when i still have 100+ on my pl acc.

Devs have already said that they will go to an "STS account" for both games and that platinum will be shared among both games. (And, presumably, any future ones.)

11. After B* is released, will u stop releasing updates for PL? I hope not xD

The devs have also said that B* will not take resources away from PL, that in fact they're adding staff so that they can handle both games.

[Kalielle]

Is there auction houses in game at release?

^ That's what I would most like to know.

What can I say, I'm a merch.

[Samhayne]

Dev, dev on the wall, who's the prettiest of them all?

Prettiest? Hmm, I think you need to read this thread: Who is the Hawtest Gurl Eva?!

As for the other questions, great list, gang! As I mentioned to Frenzyn, I can't guarantee any answers, but the team certainly wants to do more Q&A's, so this is a good spot to build up stuff to draw from.

[Zeus]

Prettiest? Hmm, I think you need to read this thread: Who is the Hawtest Gurl Eva?!

As for the other questions, great list, gang! As I mentioned to Frenzyn, I can't guarantee any answers, but the team certainly wants to do more Q&A's, so this is a good spot to build up stuff to draw from.

Samhayne. You sir are hilarious. Props!

[KingFu]

1) Will b* have any exclusive items like a PL shield that will be rewarded by devs?
2) Will PvP be more in depth?
3) Will the story line be more in depth?
4) Pets? Anyone?

[ratava]

Just for background reading I'll mention a few snippets I've read so far then pose a few q's too.

1. At release about 15% of the entire content will be available that's something like 1.5yrs worth to be added (is in interviews etc)
2. I believe they mentioned a similar start as with PL ie lvl 25 with about 3 towns (versions of)
3. They hinted "space may follow". God, I pray it does!
4. They said in their GDC Speech that PvP should be balanced better than PL because it is built from the start and not added secondarily (good news) ie learning from past mistakes.
5. Spacetime a/c's will be sharing platinum use between both PL & B*.
6. Players play humans and the "mod" machine allies are on our side. The evil faction consists of aliens and also half-demon magic things. You can google the story or look at the press release for the names of these guys.

Blackstar is a cross-platform, 3D mobile MMO with a massive world ripe for discovery and action. The game tells the story of 41st century conflict between the ruthless Scorn, a race endowed with arcane powers granted by alien gods; the Riven, necro-cyborg beings allied with the Scorn; the futuristic humans of the United Colonies Defense Force, and their robotic allies known as the Mode.

7. B* will be more story-driven, less grindy levels also and has loads of prior preproduction originally for the PC including about a year or so's worth of art from the guy who went on to work on the art for the movie: Tron. *sweet*.
8. Levels/"Dungeons" will involve more puzzle elements eg switches/knocking out mobs/turrets in order etc

That's all my factoids off top of the head for now.

My q's:

1. Will we have space flight?! Our own spaceships? Or vehicles?
2. What PvP modes are at release? Is it still level dependent, which imo reduced number of games going on at any one time in PL?
3. How will combat be improved? Will it be mainly projectile based with guns etc? How will teamwork be achieved?

Those are the big ones.

4. Can we have more concept art of the characters in the game?
5. What specs will it run on? Will their be a desktop client or browser version?

Keep up the awesome work & thanks!

[ratava]

Q: Where does the name "Blackstar" come from? (I think I know the answer hint: Something to do with the Scorn...)

Q: Can we have more details on the combat mechanics? Will it improve on PL ie classes HT; projectile based combat

Q: Can we have B* forum avatars?

Thanks devs!!

[FluffNStuff]

Will all classes get guns?

[Survivorfan]

Will all classes get guns?

All the pictures show them with guns, I think that commandos will have slow, heavy hitting guns, operative will have fast, light hitting guns and engineer....maybe a ray type gun? I dont know about engineer. And im not sure about this but i think-commando=bear, operative=bird, engineer=mage but i get confused with the operative/engineer so the thing i said about guns above, that is for the scenario I listed here. If im wrong, switch the engineer and operative.