In 2021, Triune Studios announced a new MMORPG Eternal Tombs, which at that time was still called War of Dragnorox. The project even then looked very outdated, but the developers decided to attract attention with the interesting mechanics of dungeon masters from board games, which affect the player experience.
In an interview with Spanish portal mmoingame.com, the studio shared the intricacies of creating an MMORPG with a small team, the challenges they faced, and the innovations they strive to bring to the genre. We have prepared for you a translation of the article into Russian.
As always, let's start by learning a little about you. Where is your studio from and how many employees do you have (no need to give an exact number)?
We are a small team of people located in Bend, Oregon, and we are very passionate about MMORPG games.
What were the biggest challenges you faced as a small studio creating an MMORPG?
The enormous difficulty of creating a large permanent world with so many locations, quests, items, mobs, abilities and more. It's one thing to create a single player or small multiplayer game, but EVERYTHING gets very complicated and confusing when it comes to how to handle the thousands of players at once and the massive amount of content that would be required. Doing this with a small studio is perhaps one of the most difficult tasks.
How did the idea for Eternal Tombs come about?
We are very passionate MMO players, with some of us starting playing MMOs with EverQuest back in 1999. We always envisioned huge battles and events happening as the genre matured and matured, but instead we saw a lack of investment from major studios in the genre, as well as a heavy emphasis on microtransactions. We wanted to move away from microtransactions and create a game with incredibly deep systems, exciting events and fun gameplay. That's why we put our money into creating the best MMO ever.
Eternal Tombs will have an important feature called Dungeon Masters. Could you tell me a little about her?
Undoubtedly. Eternal Tombs has what we call Tomb Masters, and they essentially act as the dungeon masters of the game. They can walk around locations and trigger events, create mobs, treasures, traps, and all sorts of great one-time items for players. You never know when an event will start, but our Tomb Masters will travel and trigger these events for players. It's an incredible experience. We have prepared some very cool things for our testers that they will be able to check out after the start of the pre-alpha on April 2.
What are your expectations from the future game?
We want to create the best MMORPG in the world. We really want players to enjoy logging into the game every day and want to constantly be involved in events, enjoy developing their characters, making friends and killing stuff.
Speaking of gameplay, will there be professions and a class system in Eternal Tombs? Will there be a trio of damage dealers, a tank and a healer?
Yes, there will be six professions in the game. Here is a short description of each of them:
Chloromancer – Guardians of nature, use trees, plants, mushrooms and natural components to cast abilities and attack enemies. Whether it's poisonous spores harvested from mushrooms or the summoning of a tree that heals, Chloromancers use the forest to attack enemies and aid their allies. Warlord – Masters of war, use training and components to deal heavy blows, charges, and shield abilities. to unleash chaos on those who seek to destroy them. Manipulator – Mystery and confusion shroud the Manipulator. Mesmerizing creatures, stalking and attacking enemies in the shadows, taking away life, traps and thefts are the ways of those who fall into the Manipulator's trap. Bonestitcher – Gravediggers at heart, bonesetters collect body parts, blood and fluids from enemies to heal their own friends, cause the flesh of enemies to rot and disembowel them alive. Ranger – Speed, agility and skill with a bow are the hallmarks of a ranger. They can hunt down special enemies, skin corpses, set traps, buff friends and deliver precise bow strikes to kill. Bombardier – Explosives and chemistry are the main skills of the Bombardier. They deal devastating blows and apply debuffs to their enemies thanks to their knowledge of these elements.
What will the combat system be like?
This is a fast paced action fighting game. We've tested almost every system imaginable, and we think we've created one of the most exciting combat systems you'll find. It's very unique and different from anything else out there, and we think players will really enjoy it.
Will leveling up be through quests or grinding?
Quests will appear in the game, as will some aspects of grinding. Eternal Tombs is certainly not an easy game, but it brings great fun and satisfaction when you achieve your goals.
Will the game have both PVE and PVP content, or will it focus more on one aspect?
We are very focused on the PvE aspect of the game. We will have both, but at the moment we want to offer the best PvE experience possible.
I understand from your presentation video that there will be no microtransactions in Eternal Tombs, are you still sticking with the same idea?
Yes. There will never be microtransactions in Eternal Tombs, even for cosmetics. Personally, I remember going up to the guild leader in EverQuest in 2000 and this guy had some amazing gear. I was in awe of how cool his character was and wanted to earn the same things. We want to recreate that feeling for people.