GameOgre DragonSoul Interview w/ Jörg Koonen, Sr. Community Manager

Global Free to Play games publisher Neonga (www.neonga.com) announces its newest Free to Play title “Dragon Soul” (www.dragonsoulonline.com) a fantasy-themed Massively Mulitplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) that blends distinctive 3D graphics and classical role-playing elements with an immersive story into a unique gaming experience.

GameOgre: DragonSoul is a new upcoming MMO from Neonga. For those who haven’t heard about tell us about the backstory and plot for DragonSoul. Also give us a little history about Neonga.

Jörg Koonen: Hi everyone, please allow me to introduce myself. I am Jörg Koonen, Senior Community Manager at Neonga. Thank you for the opportunity to introduce our new MMORPG DragonSoul.

DragonSoul is a PvP focused MMORPG in a colorful, fantastical Asian setting.

I will try to tell the DragonSoul story in a few words: After the fall of the once mighty dynasty a century ago, the once united empire has fallen apart. Now the eight remaining kingdoms are at war, locked in a struggle for supremacy.

Players will have the opportunity to not only partake in that struggle as ordinary footsoldiers but can rise through the ranks of guilds and legions and ultimately become the leader of their kingdom. The king can then promote his loyal friends to the General of the Army or chancellor of the whole kingdom. These are the highest ranks in the kingdom of DragonSoul and give unique abilities as they are the highest soldiers of the kingdom.

DragonSoul is the first client-based free-to-play MMORPG Neonga publishes. Neonga is an acronym for new online gaming and was founded in autumn 2010 in Berlin. Since the retail business is less important to the whole entertainment sector, Neonga AG has set out to take online game publishing to the next level. We are very confident to get this done because everyone here at Neonga is a veteran of the German and international gaming industry with a total of several hundred years of experience. Our first projects include DragonSoul and a facebook-based “social MMORPG” pushing the envelope for social games.

GameOgre: How many races or classes will there be in DragonSoul and what sets them apart?

Jörg Koonen: As a PvP focused game, the choice of classes and skills will be crucial for the whole character development throughout the game. In DragonSoul players can choose from four well-defined roles: Warriors, Mages, Hunters and Assassins, each being able to specialize in one field of expertise and with unique, tactical opportunities on the battlefield.

Warriors can choose from specializing in dual-wield and two-handed weapons. While dual-wielding warriors have an advantage through their consistent damage output and high “survivability”, those fighting with a two-handed weapon can deal terrible and critical damage in one blow.

Mages specialize in fire or ice magic. As it is the nature of these elements, fireball throwing mages may do massive damage but are as volatile as clouds of smoke. Ice mages on the other hand are masters of control, slowing their opponents and keeping them in check.

Hunters can decide whether they want to use bow and arrow and can move across the battlefield while doing moderate damage or they choose crossbow and bolt to become the artillery and do heavy damage from their position.

The fourth role is that of the assassin. A player may wish to become a nimble, two-dagger wielding killer or use their dexterity to sneak upon their targets on the battlefield.

GameOgre: Will you have guilds or alliances in DragonSoul and how will they work?

Jörg Koonen: As a PvP focused game we have to give the players all opportunities to meet and play together as one faction. Therefore we emphasized social features like Guilds (Families) and alliances (Legions). Only players organized in a Family have access to several amenities and features like special resources and other advantages. So these features are the heart of DragonSoul. Several Families can ally and form a Legion – the most important fighting force a kingdom can muster – consisting of several hundred players. More importantly only leaders of a Legion can become king of their country.

GameOgre: What kind of PvP will be in DragonSoul? Will you have separate PvP and PvE Servers?

Jörg Koonen: We don’t make this distinction for DragonSoul. The game features an extensive PvP System with different PvP modes. The eternal struggle between kingdoms is the central focal point for players, but there are other opportunities for PvP as well. Within the eight kingdoms, players will face PvE fights, instances and more.

GameOgre: Tell us about the mounts and pets in DragonSoul. Where did the inspiration for their creation come from and how can they help players?

Jörg Koonen: We’ve got hundreds of different pets and mounts in the game, their looks are inspired by popular themes, real animals and some fantastic creatures as well. These pets and mounts can rise in level as the character progresses through the game and improve their attributes. Additionally the player can “crossbreed” animals and combine or transfer the pet’s or mount’s specialties.

Every pet has offensive and defensive abilities that a player can use in fights. Mounts in DragonSoul have another advantage over many those from other MMORPGs: It is possible for players to fight mounted. Many attacks can be staged from the saddle.

GameOgre: Since DragonSoul will be free to play, will you offer microtransactions? If so what can players expect to purchase with the microtransactions?

Jörg Koonen: The in-game item shop in DragonSoul will offer several potions and other items to save the players time. The first items we have planned to go into the store will be experience potions to increase leveling speed, special items to decrease downtimes and several other items to customize characters. We are not planning to exclude players from content or features.

GameOgre: Can you tell us a little about how you can become a King in DragonSoul and what all benefits come with that?

Jörg Koonen: To be elected as a king should be an honor to a player. He is the highest representative of his homeland, and for that reason has a lot of responsibility. The king’s task is to ensure that rival factions won´t raid the kingdom, moreover as in real politics, he has to ensure that all secretaries fulfill their duties.

To become a king it is necessary that the player is the leader of a legion – an alliance of up to ten individual guilds. He then can appoint a chancellor, responsible for raising funds, and a general who can take on kingdom quests and lead the armies into battle.

In return for their hard work the whole kingdom will gain many different perks and of course the king and his counselors will receive special rewards and may carry special titles and use exclusive mounts.

GameOgre: With closed beta coming up, how can players participate in the beta?

Jörg Koonen: All interested players have to do is to head over to http://dragonsoulonline.com and click on the Beta registration button.

As soon as the closed beta starts we will select a number of players from the list and invite them to join us. The good news for everyone who isn’t included in the earlier phases of our closed and open beta tests is that we are trying to limit the time these phases take to a few weeks only.

GameOgre: Is there anything else you would like to tell our readers about DragonSoul?

Jörg Koonen: We are delighted that our first client-based MMORPG has already found many fans from all over the world. We have already created a Facebook fanpage where we posted several screenshots and are continuously posting new updates on DragonSoul. We would like to invite our fans to join us on http://www.facebook.com/DragonSoul.EN and to sign up for the beta at www.dragonsoulonline.com